Awake and Alive
by PureSourwolfHale
Summary: There is no doubt that Stiles Stilinski and Natalie Henderson have a special bond with each other. But when their best friend Scott McCall is bitten and transforms into a werewolf, they get caught up in the supernatural in ways they could never imagine and even brings them closer than ever. What will become of the two lovesick best friends? Only time will tell... (StilesxOC)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, everyone! My name is Maddie! Wow, I haven't posted anything on this site for almost a year now, but now I'm back! Yay! I've never written Teen Wolf fan fiction before and I'm OBSESSED with that show so I figured why not? I am beyond excited to start new stories. I'm going to be starting out with love stories with Stiles and an OC, Derek and an OC, and Isaac and an OC. They will be separate stories but they do eventually all tie in together. I won't be starting Derek's story until the second season. And I know that there's a bunch of stories already with Scott and Stiles having a girl best friend, but I assure you that mine is more different and I have plenty ideas for it. So... here is the first chapter of my first Teen Wolf Fan Fiction, 'Awake and Alive'! I hope you enjoy! :)**

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It was about a quarter to midnight in Beacon Hills, California, so it made perfect sense that everyone in the Henderson household was fast asleep. Plus, it was a school night so Natalie and Zach had no other choice but to be in bed. It took Zach a bit longer to fall into slumber- it was no surprise since he was a hyperactive thirteen year old boy- but once he did, he slept like a baby. As for the oldest child, she had knocked out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Natalie was snoring away in her super comfortable queen-sized bed when all of a sudden, the sound of twigs being snapped traveled to her ears. Her eyes opened up right away, mostly annoyed at the fact that whatever was making the commotion outside interrupted her peaceful slumber. She sat up and rubbed the drowsiness out of her chocolate brown doe-like eyes. She waited another minute and as soon as she realized that the noise was long gone, Natalie lowered herself back onto her bed and closed her eyes once again, slowly drifting off…

_Snap! _

Mumbling to herself angrily, Natalie ripped her blankets off her body and dragged herself to her window. She peeked out into the night only to find nothing except for the tree in her front yard, leaves, twigs, and a few of her dog Rocky's toys. As she was about to turn away, she saw two shadows flash by and disappear not even a second later.

"What the hell?" she said to herself, confused even more.

Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Natalie grabbed her black flip flops and slid them on her feet. She then searched around her room until she found her most beloved baseball bat, which she christened as Tina. No specific story behind it, Natalie just felt like the name rolled off her tongue perfectly.

She slowly opened her door and tiptoed through the halls of her house, cringing whenever the wooden floors would creak. She reached the bottom of the stairs with ease and continued to make her way towards the front door but not before accidentally banging her knee on the coffee table in the living room. Cursing to herself, she held onto her throbbing knee and waited until the pain dulled down before limping over to the door.

The cool night breeze sent shivers down her spine as she opened the door and stepped outside. Her toned arms rose up the aluminum baseball bat, preparing to attack whoever or whatever was making all of that noise. Natalie had a very strong feeling that someone was trying to break into her house, but she wasn't afraid at all to face them. Thanks to countless hours of hitting the gym and baseball practice, she had the strength, muscle, and courage to take anyone down if she had to. Tightening her grip on her bat, Natalie crept towards the porch steps when two teenage boys were suddenly hanging upside down from her roof. She screamed as soon as they came into sight, causing the boys to scream as well and fall onto the grass in front of her. Natalie groaned in annoyance when she realized that the boys were in fact her best friends, Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski.

"You stupid idiots!" Natalie yelled at them as they got up and fixed themselves, "What the hell were you guys trying to do? Give me a freakin' heart attack?!"

Stiles flailed his arms at her. "Well your phone was off so we figured this was the only way for you to come outside! And what is it with you two and bats?" He gestured to both of his best friends.

Scott started to snicker and Natalie raised an eyebrow. "What?" she asked him.

"Nice outfit," Scott chuckled, nodding his head at Natalie's sleep attire.

She wore a grey hoodie that was a size too big and black booty shorts that showed off her short yet toned legs. Her long red velvet hair was piled on top of her head in a bun that was becoming loose due to her rolling around in bed.

Natalie rolled her eyes and lowered her bat. "Well, I _was_ sleeping like a normal human being at midnight before you guys showed up and started making noise. Why the hell are you here anyways?"

"Stiles was listening in on his dad's calls and found out that two joggers found a dead body out in the woods tonight," Scott explained.

The redhead arched her brow again. "Seriously? You came over to my house and woke me up in the middle of the night just to tell me _that_?" She threw her hands up and turned to the door. "Alright, I'm going back to bed. Later-"

Stiles grabbed her hand before she could open the door. "You didn't let me finish. I was gonna say that the joggers only found half of the body."

"Only half?" Natalie perked up. Now she was intrigued. She lived for solving mysteries and she's usually good at figuring out who was behind committing crimes. That's why Scott and Stiles no longer watch crime shows with her since she guessed who the culprits were right away.

Stiles nodded his head excitedly. "Yep. So we decided that we're gonna go look for the other half right now."

The curly haired friend held his hands up in defense. "He made me go with him! I had no say in this whatsoever! Just for your information!"

Stiles shoved Scott, making Natalie chuckle. "So what do you say, Nat?" Stiles asked the redhead, "Are you in?"

No need to ask her twice. Natalie was in once he mentioned only half of the body being found. She tossed her bat up in the air and caught it with one hand. "Let's do this," she said with confidence. She started to make her way down the stairs when Scott held her back by putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're seriously gonna take that with you?" He pointed to Tina.

Natalie looked from her bat to Scott. "Yeah, why not?"

"Don't you think carrying a baseball bat is a _little_ useless for searching for a body out in the woods?" Stiles wondered, pinching the air for emphasis.

The boys' best friend gave them a look that said that they were being stupid. "We're going out in the woods in the middle of the night where some creepy guy or wild animal is out and lurking about. What else are we supposed to defend ourselves with, Scott's inhaler?"

Scott and Stiles rubbed the back of their necks and looked around. They both knew that Natalie was right- she was right pretty much all the time- but neither one of them wanted to admit it. She rolled her eyes when Stiles started whistling.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm taking Tina with me."

Stiles let out an exasperated sigh and flailed his arms once again. "Fine, take Tina, I don't care. Can we just go now?"

The other two laughed at their friend's eagerness and followed him to his jeep. Scott sat in the passenger seat after a couple rounds of 'rock, paper, scissors' with Natalie while said girl was sitting in the back, pouting from losing. The drive lasted only a short ten minutes before parking in front of a sign that forbad anyone to enter the preserve at that time. Not caring about what it said, the trio entered the woods, but not before Natalie jumped on Stiles's back and forced him to carry her along the way.

"We're seriously doing this?" Scott asked, unsure of the whole idea as he followed Stiles and Natalie.

"Oh come on, Scotty!" Natalie encouraged as she wrapped her arms around Stiles's neck for balance and tried to be careful not hitting her friend with her bat, "Where's you sense of adventure?"

"Yeah!" Stiles agreed, "Besides, you're the one who always bitches that nothing ever happens in this town!"

Stiles grabbed onto Natalie's thigh with one hand as he pulled a flashlight out of his pocket with the other. He flipped the switch up and light illuminated from the flashlight, giving the trio a better view of where they were heading.

"I was trying to get a good night sleep before practice tomorrow," Scott told him.

"Right, because sitting on the bench on the bench asks such a grueling effort," Stiles retorted sarcastically. The redhead on his back flicked him on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"No, because… I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm making first line."

For Scott, it wasn't just a fantasy he hoped came true- it was a goal he was determined to make happen. That boy had worked his ass off all summer on improving his lacrosse skills alongside Stiles. Even Natalie had given him some pointers to help him do better. Scott was actually feeling confident for practice and he believed he could really make first line and make a name for himself at Beacon Hills High.

He could just picture it- he was running down the field with the ball in this lacrosse stick, the whole stadium cheering him on. He threw the ball and shot it through the goal. He had just scored the winning point! All of his teammates piled on top of him in excitement. All of a sudden, they set Scott on their shoulders as they cheered. They passed by a group of girls who swooned at the new lacrosse star. The biggest smile was plastered on Scott's face and he finally felt like he was important to everyone-

"Hey, that's the spirit!" Stiles said, snapping Scott out of his fantasy, "Everyone should have a dream, even if it's an unrealistic one." Another flick to the head. "God damn!" He turned his head towards Natalie. "Stop flicking me, woman!"

"Stop being such a butthead!" Natalie hopped off of Stiles's back and clasped her hand on her other best friend's shoulder. "Well, I for one believe in you, Scotty. I know you're gonna kick some serious ass during practice tomorrow."

The curly haired boy smiled at his friend's support. "Thank you, Natalie. So when are your baseball tryouts?"

"Next Wednesday," Natalie answered, "I'm so freakin' excited for this year! State championships, here we come! Whoo!" she pumped her fist up in the air.

Stiles cocked up his eyebrow. "You stole a couple of Adderall from my jeep, didn't you?"

"No!" Natalie rolled her eyes and shoved Stiles, "Excuse me that I actually have team spirit, unlike you, Debbie Downer!"

She poked Stiles's ribcage, not expecting him to grab her by the waist and start tickling her sides. Laughter erupted from Natalie's mouth as Stiles continued to attack her. Her red velvet hair had fallen out of the hair band that was holding it up. It was now all messed up due to her thrashing around in Stiles's grasp, but the boy thought Natalie was beautiful nonetheless.

"Okay, I call truce!" Natalie laughed, struggling to break away, "Now let go of me unless you wanna get your ass kicked!" Continuing to laugh, Stiles finally let go of his best friend. The redhead had finally calmed down and she put her hair back up with the hair band around her wrist. "So Stiles, you know, just out of curiosity, which part of the body are we even looking for, anyway?" she asked after they started walking again.

Stiles was silent for a moment as he thought about Natalie's question when realization dawned on him. "Huh… I didn't even think about that." Natalie snorted.

"And, uh, what if the one who killed the body is still out here?" Scott asked as they started walking up a small hill.

"Also something I didn't think about."

Natalie rolled her eyes. She wasn't surprised that Stiles didn't really think this whole situation through. Why the hell did she even agree to go out in the forest with them? Either way, she was starting to regret her decision, and it didn't help that Stiles was leading the trio. "That sounds so promising."

"Yeah, no kidding," Scott agreed sarcastically, "It's comforting to know that you planned this up with your usual attention to details."

"I know!" the short-haired boy chuckled, finding the situation hilarious for some unknown reason.

"Dumbass," Natalie mumbled to herself.

"I heard that!"

"Good!" she called out from behind, "You were supposed to!" Stiles shook his head as he continued to walk. The two didn't even notice Scott stopping by a tree.

Placing his hands on his knees, Scott was trying to slow down his breathing pattern, but his lungs were starting to hurt from his lack of oxygen. He took his inhaler from his pocket and shook it up a few times. "Hey guys, maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one who holds the flashlight." He brought the inhaler to his mouth and puffed some air into his lungs.

Natalie stopped and turned around to make sure her best friend was okay. "You alright there, Scotty?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks," Scott answered, standing straight. He gave Natalie a reassuring smile, which she returned.

The trio continued to walk until the crime scene investigation came into view. It was all blocked off with caution tape, but they could still see everything. They couldn't help but smile a little when they saw what was going down. How could they not? They were fascinated that they were actually witnessing a crime scene! Not a lot of people at their school could say they've done the same.

Not wanting to be seen, they crouched behind a log but continued to watch. Shivers went down Natalie's spine when she saw a pair of dirty bare feet sticking out of the body bag lying on the ground. Stiles mistook his best friend's shivers as a sign from the coldness of the wind so he put his arm around Natalie and rubbed his hand up and down her arm to warm her up. She turned to Stiles and smiled at his gesture as a sign of thanks, making him blush a little. It was a good thing it was nighttime so she couldn't see his cheeks turning red.

"Man, this is like an episode of 'CSI' but live!" Natalie said excitedly as she continued to watch the scene in front of her.

"Is that the second half of the body?" Scott pointed to the body bag that was now being zipped up.

"No," Stiles answered, "They would have called off the search." He stood up from their hiding spot, pulling Natalie up by her elbow. "Come on!"

Stiles ran off with Natalie hot on his tail and Scott following behind her. Scott began to slow down when he started to lose his breath and it was hard for him to keep up with Stiles and Natalie.

"Stiles! Natalie! Wait up!"

But they didn't hear him; they continued to run to the crime scene. Natalie was now trying to keep up with her hyper best friend since it was hard for her to run with sandals on. She finally got frustrated and stopped to take off her sandals. Being cautious of stepping on something sharp, wet, or painful, she started to tiptoe as quickly as she could, still following Stiles.

It took Stiles a while to realize that he had lost his two best friends behind him. He was slowing down to look behind him to look for his friends when a search dog started to bark at him ferociously. It caught Stiles off guard and he stumbled and fell on his rear. Police officers yanked the dogs back with their leashes before they could get out of control. Natalie had finally caught up to the area and she hid behind a tree so she wouldn't get caught.

"Stay right there!" Natalie heard a police officer yell at Stiles.

She heard someone clear their throat. When she turned her head, she saw Scott hiding behind a different tree a few feet from her. He gave her a look that asked what the hell was going on. All Natalie could do was shrug her shoulders and turn back to keep herself hidden.

"Hold on," she heard Stiles's father, Sheriff Stilinski say, "This little delinquent belongs to me. Do you listen in on all of my phone calls?"

"No…" Stiles answered, 'Not the boring ones."

Natalie could only imagine the look on Sheriff Stilinski's face. She couldn't help but chuckle thinking about it. All of a sudden, one of the search dogs saw her and ran over to her. it barked at her, startling her and causing her to yelp and fall down on the dirt, dropping Tina in the process. Natalie tried to hush the German Shepard as much as she could, but it was no use.

"God, I hate that dog so much!" she said to herself as she got up, brushed the dirt off her legs, and picked up Tina.

Then it dawned on her- she was no longer hiding behind the tree. Slowly, she lifted her head up to find not only Stiles and Sheriff Stilinski staring at her, but also her father, Deputy Kurt Henderson. She had completely forgotten that her father was on duty tonight, which was not a smart move on her part to come out into the forest in the middle of the night.

"Dad! Heeeyyy!" Natalie smiled sheepishly and stretched out the 'hey'. "How's it going?"

Kurt crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at his daughter. "Natalie. What did I tell you about sneaking off to check out crime scenes?"

Natalie sighed and rolled her eyes as she recited her father's order. "If it's Stiles's idea, never go through with it." Kurt nodded his head knowingly.

"I'm actually kinda hurt by that order, to be quite honest," Stiles retorted. Everyone ignored his statement.

"So where's your other usual partner in crime?" Sheriff Stilinski asked the two teenagers.

"Who, Scott?" Stiles said, "Scott's home. Said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day of school." He threw his arm around Natalie's shoulders. "It's just me and Natalie… in the woods… alone."

When Sheriff Stilinski and Kurt raised their eyebrows simultaneously, Natalie smacked her forehead with her hand. "Stiles?"

"Hmm?"

"Think about what you just said and look where your arm is."

It finally hit Stiles how suggestive the situation sounded when he looked at the arm that was draped around Natalie's shoulders. Chuckling nervously, he drew his arm back and rubbed the back of his neck. As if getting caught sneaking out into the woods at night wasn't bad enough.

Sheriff Stilinski sighed and called out, "Scott! Are you out there?" Stiles and Natalie waited in suspense to see if their best friend would be caught just like they were, but all they were met with was silence. After waiting a few more moments for a response, Sheriff Stilinski turned to his son. "Alright, young man, I'm taking you back to your car and we're going to discuss a little something called 'invasion of privacy'."

Natalie watched as Sheriff Stilinski dragged Stiles away by the elbow. Her dad cleared his throat so she turned back to face him. "So… am I off the hook?"

Kurt glared at his oldest child for a moment before letting out a deep breath. "Yes, you're off the hook. But next time, I won't let you off so easy. Now have Stiles drop you off at home and get some sleep. You have school tomorrow and I don't want you complaining in the morning about how tired you are."

"Okay," Natalie replied, "Bye, Dad."

"Hey," Kurt said to her.

Natalie turned around and chuckled when her dad gave her a knowing look. She walked back over to her dad and they did their little secret handshake. They laughed for a bit after as they hugged. Natalie bid Kurt one last goodbye before following after Stiles and Sheriff Stilinski, completely forgetting about Scott, who was still standing behind the tree.

Once they had reached Stiles's jeep, Sheriff Stilinski scolded his son for a few minutes and then walked back to the crime scene. The best friends climbed into the car and drove to Natalie's house. When Stiles looked over at Natalie, she was looking down at her hands that were folded on her lap and biting her bottom lip. She didn't have to say anything for Stiles to know what she was thinking- she was worried about Scott.

"You know he's gonna be alright, Nat," Stiles told her.

"I know," she agreed, "but I feel bad that we just left him there by himself while whatever or whoever the hell killed that girl is still out there. What if that… thing attacks him and rips his head off and then we'll get in trouble because we knew he was out there but we didn't say anything and-"

"Natalie!" She stopped her rambling when Stiles shouted and placed his hand on top of hers. "Relax. It's all going to be okay. Scott's a big boy. He'll make his way back to his house safe and sound. You know, like a dog."

"Wow, dude," Natalie chuckled and shook her head, "I can't believe that _that _was your analogy."

"That's just how I roll." Stiles brushed his shoulder as if there were dirt on it. His best friend rolled her eyes and punched his arm. The jumpy teenager whined in pain and rubbed his now sore arm with only one hand on the steering wheel.

The rest of the car ride was filled with jokes, laughs, and making fun of each other. Before they knew it, they were in front of Natalie's house. Stiles parked the jeep beside the curb and turned to Natalie.

"I'm picking you up in the morning, right?" Stiles asked Natalie.

She nodded her head. "Yeah. And we gotta drop Zach off at school, too."

"Sounds like a plan."

Natalie opened the car door and stepped out of the jeep with her bat in her hand. When was at Stiles's side of the car, she bumped her fist with his. "I'll see you tomorrow, Stiles. And if you hear from Scott, let me know right away."

"I will," he promised her, "Don't worry."

Accepting that, Natalie waved goodbye to her best friend then walked to her house. As she was about to turn the doorknob, she heard Stiles call her name. Natalie turned around to see that Stiles had gotten out of his car and was now opening up his arms with a small but noticeable smirk on his face. Shaking her head and giggling, Natalie headed back over to the waiting boy.

When Natalie finally met up with Stiles, he wrapped her up in the biggest hug he could give her. She smiled to herself as she encircled his lanky but toned waist with her arms. The two stayed in that position for some minutes, just enjoying each other's warm and comfortable embrace. Their bodies swayed together, as if they were dancing to an inaudible song.

The crave for Natalie's warmth grew stronger for Stiles when the redhead pulled out of the hug. She looked up at him with sparkling brown eyes and smiled. "Goodnight, Stiles." With that, she walked back to her house."

"Goodnight, Natalie."

A sigh was released from Stiles's mouth as he watched his best friend step inside her house and shut the door behind her. Even though he knew he should be getting home now, he couldn't bring himself to leave. Instead he leaned against the jeep and kept his gaze on Natalie's house. There was just too much on the boy's mind for him to drive at the moment.

These feelings for the redhead have been stuck with Stiles for as long as the he could remember. Ever since Natalie was born, the two have always been close with each other since Kurt and Sheriff Stilinski were best friends. As the two grew older, their bond grew stronger, even when Scott came into the picture in kindergarten. Stiles's little crush bloomed when the school bully was picking on a scrawny and geeky boy so Natalie had beaten him up with no problem. The fact that she was a fearless badass was just one of the many things about her.

Over time, Stiles's infatuation with Natalie had grown into something much deeper. He didn't realize how hard he had fallen for her until his mother Claudia passed away in 2006. Stiles and his father were completely devastated over the loss and the boy turned to his best friends, mostly Natalie. Yes, Scott was there for Stiles when he was at his lowest, but Natalie was able to provide him with the emotional comfort and loving affection that Scott couldn't. When Natalie let Stiles cry on her shoulder and express his grief from losing his mother, he knew that she would always be there for him and he would never let her go.

There's no doubt that Stiles was unconditionally hooked to the redhead. But the real question is, how did she feel about him? Did she return those feelings for him? Or did she only see him as the best friend that he had been for the past sixteen years, or even like a brother? Either way, Stiles was extremely frightened to take the risk of telling Natalie how he really felt and possibly losing her. Then again, he couldn't keep those emotions all bottled up inside him and end up regretting him.

"One day, Stiles," he promised himself, "One day, she'll know."

Stiles opened the car door and sat down. After his door was shut and the keys were in the ignition, he finally drove home. It was now one thirty in the morning and he definitely needed as much sleep he could get before the first day of school.

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**And that marks the beginning of the story! Excuse me if I made an mistakes in regards of the show. I'm trying to stick all of the episodes as much as I can with my own changes. Plus, I'm looking up the scripts online and it's hard to keep track of whether it's accurate or not. But I really hope I do the show justice! PLEASE review, favorite, and follow and let me know what you think of it so far! Reviews are my motivation to keep writing because I then know if people are enjoying it or not so it's very important and helpful if you review! Also, I'm still debating if I wanna make Natalie supernatural or not. I'd have an idea of what she would be, but leave me a review or PM to give your opinion. OH! And keep an eye out for Isaac's story, 'Scars'! I'll be sure to update soon! xoxo, Maddie :)  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I just wanna say how beyond grateful I am for the feedback I got on the first chapter of Awake and Alive! Nine reviews? That's the most I've ever gotten on the first chapter of any of my stories so thank you so much! So one of you has asked me if Ariana Grande was Natalie's face claim since the way I described her sounds like Ariana. The thing is that Natalie is a very tough and a sort of tomboy character, and I can't picture Ariana as that. If anyone has any suggestions for who should be Natalie's face claim, let me know! Here's the second chapter of Awake and Alive!**

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_Knock knock knock!_

"Natalie Angelina Henderson!" Kurt called as he knocked on his daughter's bedroom door, "Your mother and I have been calling you for ten minutes now! Are you up yet?"

There was an audible yawn from the other si of the door. "Yeah," Natalie answered groggily, "I'm getting ready right… now…"

The next thing Kurt heard was Natalie snoring again. He furrowed his eyebrows as he opened the door. When he stepped inside, he saw his daughter on her bed, tangled up in her sheets. Her eyes were closed and a tiny bit of drool dripped from the corning of her mouth. It was safe to say that it was not a pleasant sight to see Natalie Henderson in the morning. Shaking his head, Kurt pulled his arm from behind his back. In that hand was a spray bottle. He walked over to her right side of the bed, held up the spray bottle, and blasted Natalie with ice cold water.

"OH MY GOD!" Natalie jumped as the water hit her face. She scrambled to get out of the bed but she was too tangled up in her sheets so she ended up falling on the floor. As soon as she was able to get out of the mess, she bolted to her bathroom with her dad still spraying her. "Okay, I'm up! Stop it!"

"Starting to regret going out in the woods last night?" Kurt asked his daughter tauntingly when she closed her bathroom door.

"I regretted it the moment I got into Stiles's jeep!" Natalie shouted back. Kurt chuckled as he walked out of his daughter's room, letting her get ready for school.

Since Natalie had woken up later than she was supposed to, her shower only lasted for about five minutes. The hot water coming from the shower head felt amazing compared to the freezing water coming from Kurt's spray bottle. She didn't want to get out, but she was already running late. After she washed her hair and body, she turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed the fluffy purple towel from the cabinet and wrapped it around herself. She then found the hair dryer and straight iron and went to work on her red velvet hair. When the hair was dry, straight, and soft, she turned the lights off in her bathroom and went back to her bedroom.

It was a good thing that Natalie already had picked out her outfit for the day the night before since she had no time to search around her closet for something to wear. She slipped on her blue bra and matching boy shorts before putting on her denim shirt and black leggings. As she laced up her combat boots, her keeshond puppy Rocky ran into the room and jumped on her lap. Natalie glared down at her dog as he looked up at his owner innocently.

"You're really gonna make this difficult for me, aren't you?" she said to her dog. Rocky barked- more like yelped- in response. Natalie chuckled as she scratched behind Rocky's ear. Deciding that she had to finish getting ready, she picked up Rocky, placed him on her bed, and walked over to her dresser. She slid on her angel wings ring on her finger and put on her black stud earrings. She grabbed her black bandana and then walked out of her room with Rocky trailing behind.

Tying the bandana around her head, Natalie walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Zach was eating pancakes at the dinner table across from Kurt who was reading the newspaper and sipping on his cup of coffee. At the stove was Natalie's mother, Terri, fixing up another batch of pancakes for the redhead.

"Morning, family!" Natalie greeted as she walked over to the refrigerator to grab some apple juice.

Terri turned to her daughter with a plate of pancakes in her hand. "Well, good morning to you too, sleeping beauty. Nice of you to finally join us."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Well, sorry. I wasn't expecting to be as tired as I was." She sat down next to her thirteen year old brother. Zach handed her the syrup and she drowned her pancakes in the sticky sweet substance.

"That's what you get for going off with Stiles on a school night," Zach teased his sis ter. He smirked at her. "What were you two doing out there, anyway?"

"Not whatever it is you're thinking of so get your thirteen year old hormonal mind out of the gutter." Natalie cut into her pancake, stabbed it with her fork, and took a bite out of it.

"I'm sure it is." The thirteen year old started making kissing noises until Natalie pinched his arm as hard as she could. "OW!"

"Hey, play nice, you two," Terri told them, but chuckled anyway.

The siblings obeyed their mother and continued to eat their breakfast. Natalie was halfway done with her pancakes when she looked up at her dad who was still concentrating on his paper. "So, Dad-"

"No," Kurt deadpanned, not even looking up.

Baffled, Natalie's mouth gaped open. "You didn't even know what I was gonna say!"

"You were going to ask if I had new information about the body we found last night and no, I don't and even if I did, there is no way in hell I would tell you about it."

"Damn it, I hate this father/daughter telepathy thing," Natalie grumbled before finishing her apple juice.

Kurt set his paper down on the table and pointed his finger at his daughter, "I just don't want you getting caught up in a dangerous case again." Bushy eyebrows rose up when Kurt said 'again'.

"For the last time, that was Stiles's fault, not mine! He thought it would be fun to follow you guys during that car chase. What an idiot…"

Raising his cup, Kurt said, "And that's why you never follow his instincts." As he took a sip of his coffee, the Hendersons heard a car horn from outside. "Speaking of Stiles..."

Natalie took her last bite of her pancakes and stood up. "That's our cue to leave." She nudged Zach and stood up to put her dishes in the sink. Terri placed a couple of pancakes on a paper plate and handed them to her daughter. As a sign of thanks, Natalie kissed her mom on her cheek. "See you guys later!"

"Have a good day, you two!" Terri called out as her children walked out of the house.

The infamous blue jeep was settled next to the curb. Both Natalie and Zach walked over to the passenger side only for the younger Henderson to be pushed into the back before he could get shotgun.

"How come you always get to sit in the front?" Zach complained.

Stiles turned to Natalie's younger brother. "Sorry, bud. We're best friends and she's a girl so she gets special privileges."

The redhead scoffed as she sat down. "That, and I can also kick your ass if I wanted to." Dropping the plate of pancakes on Stiles's lap, she announced, "Breakfast."

The look on Stiles's face resembled one of a kid in a candy store. "Oh my god, your mom's the best!" he greedily took a huge bite out of a pancake, making Natalie roll her eyes. All of a sudden, Stiles's eyes widened as he remembered what had happened that morning. "Oh! By the way, Scott texted me earlier."

Now Natalie's own brown eyes grew. Well, as much as they could because her eyes were already big in shape. "He did?! Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Stiles assured his best friend, making her sigh in relief. "But he said that something bit him last night."

"Ouch," Natalie cringed a little, "That sucks. What was it, do you know?"

Stiles shrugged his shoulders. "No clue. He said he'd tell us when we see him at school."

This will probably be one of the only times in Natalie or Stiles's lives when they actually want to go to school. Did Scott actually find the other half of the body? Lord only knows, and the pair was more anxious to get to their other best friend.

After Zach was dropped off at his middle school, Stiles drove as fast as he could to the school without breaking any laws. Thank god that finding a parking spot was actually easy that day because neither of the two wanted to deal with it. They found Scott hopping off his bike as a fancy looking Porsche parked next to him. Natalie frowned as the captain of the lacrosse team, Jackson Whittemore, got out of the car, hitting Scott with the door in the process.

Jackson glared at Scott. "Dude, watch the paintwork."

When Jackson went over to his friends after leaving a defeated-looking Scott, he passed by Stiles and Natalie. The jock shot them a nasty look. "Stilinski, Strawberry Shortcake."

"Bite me," Natalie shot back. All Jackson responded with was a smirk then he walked away. Huffing to herself, Natalie grabbed Stiles's hand and ran over to Scott. "Yo, Scotty!"

Said boy turned around and waved to his best friends when he saw them. As soon as they reached him, Stiles was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as he said, "So, let's see this."

Scott looked around to see if anyone was watching them. All clear. He slightly lifted the hem of his shirt, revealing a white bandage with blood stained in the shaped of a crescent. Both Stiles and Natalie gawked at the wound in fascination.

"Whoa!" Stiles gasped. He reached out to touch it but then Natalie slapped his hand away. "Ow!" Caressing his hand, he glared at Natalie. "You're really violent, you know that?"

"Tell me something I don't know," she replied nonchalantly. She turned to Scott. "But seriously, Scott, that looks pretty nasty. So, do you know what bit you?"

"It was too dark to see very much," Scott said as he led the trio towards the school, "but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf." Natalie snorted, making Scott furrow his eyebrows at her. "What?"

"A wolf bit you?" Stiles said. He shook his head. "Nope. Not a chance."

"I heard a wolf howling."

"No you didn't."

"What do you mean, I didn't?" Scott asked, "How do you know what I heard?"

"Because California hasn't had wolves in like sixty years," Stiles told him.

"Really?" Scott wondered.

"Yes, really." Stiles clasped his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Look, there's no wolf in California."

Natalie shrugged her shoulders. "Well, a bear or a mountain lion maybe, but definitely not a wolf. I think the only thing as close to a wolf Beacon Hills can get is Rocky, but even he doesn't bite people."

Huh. Scott could've sworn that the bite mark on his torso resembled a wolf's. Maybe the adrenaline was so high the night before that he was imagining things.

"Well, Scott spoke, "if you two don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not going to believe me when I tell you I saw the body."

Both of his best friends stopped in their tracks and turned to him with wide eyes.

"Dude, no way!" Natalie exclaimed. Based on her reaction, Scott felt sort of pleased with himself.

"You what?" Stiles piped up, "Are you kidding me?"

"I wish," Scott cringed as he thought about the torso of the girl he found. He shuddered at the memory. "I'm gonna have nightmares about it for a month."

Stiles then got a little too excited about the whole thing. "That's freakin' awesome this is seriously the best thing that's happened to this town since the birth of…" Oh, shit. He then shut his mouth when he remembered that Natalie was standing right next to him. Letting her name slip out of his mouth would've been something he would not live down for the rest of his life.

One of Natalie's eyebrows cocked up as she waited for the rest of Stiles's statement, but he never finished. "Okay, then…" The redhead then turned around when she heard a couple of girls from baseball call her over. "I'm gonna go see them to see what they want," she told Scott and Stiles. Clicking her tongue, she winked and pointed to them. "Catch you on the flip side." She then ran to her teammates, leaving a flustered Stiles and a smirking Scott.

Stiles smacked his forehead and pointed to Scott. "You're the cause of this, you know. Dragging down to your nerd depths." All Scott did was laugh at his friend's accusation and started walking to the school again. "I'm a nerd by association! I've been Scarlett-nerded by you!"

"Dude, relax," Scott chuckled as he placed his hand on Stiles's shoulder, "We've been friends with Nat for pretty much all our lives. It's not like she's abandoned us.

"Yet!" Stiles shrieked, "She's also friends with Lydia Martin, aka the most popular girl in school! Natalie's pretty high on the social food chain. I guarantee you this, Scott, one day she's gonna realize that we're total losers and leave us for the cool crowd. I'm surprised she hasn't yet."

"Stiles, you know Natalie's not like that. She loves us! But if you're so worried about her leaving us-" Scott patted his friend's cheek, "maybe it's time you finally asked out." He walked ahead of Stiles.

The boy pouted a bit. "Easier said than done," he grumbled to himself as he followed Scott to first period.

The two best friends walked into their English class right as the warning bell rang. Scott sat down near the back and Stiles took the seat next to him. Stiles noticed that Natalie wasn't in the class yet so he saved her a seat by placing his backpack in the seat in front of him. About two minutes before the final bell, Natalie strolled in the room. She saw her best friends and noticed that Stiles had saved her a seat so she sat down, thanking the boy as she did so. As the final bell rang, their English teacher wrote on the board.

"As you all know," the teacher spoke, "there was a body found in the woods last night." Scott, Stiles, and Natalie looked at each other and smiled, being the only ones who were actually at the crime scene. "And I'm sure your eager little minds are coming up with all sorts of macabre scenarios as to how it happened, but I've been told that the police have a suspect in custody."

Now the trio raised their eyebrows. Scott looked at Stiles and Natalie in wonder if their dads told them new information. All they did was shrug their shoulders since they didn't know what was going on either.

The teacher continued, "A vagrant with a long history of psychiatric disorders was discovered camping out in the woods near where the body was found, which means your undivided attention can be given to the syllabus outlining the semester on your desks."

At one point during class as the students were still reading their syllabi, the door opens, causing all of the students to look up. The school's principal walked in, but not alone. Standing next to him was a beautiful girl who was tall and slender and she had fair skin, brown hair, and long wavy dark brown hair. The new girl was nervous no doubt, but looked friendly. Scott looked as if her were in a trance. Natalie swore that he was going to pass out at any second. The redhead couldn't hold back the sly smile forming on her face. Yep. Her best friend Scotty was definitely crushing on the new girl. Hard.

"Class," the principal addressed the students, "this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

Allison looked down shyly as she made her way down the aisle and took a seat behind Scott, who looked like he couldn't breathe. But he seemed to recover quickly as he picked up the pen from his desk, turned towards Allison and handed her the pen. With a skeptical but very grateful smile, she took the pen from him.

"Thanks," Allison said. Scott nodded his head before turning back around with a sort of goofy smile on his face.

This encounter didn't go unnoticed by Stiles and Natalie. It was a little strange at first. How did Scott know that Allison needed a pen? Who knows? But the two best friends looked at the bigger picture: Scott was into a girl! Natalie turned around to face Stiles and gave him a knowing look. Stiles smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, making the redhead giggle and turn back to the syllabus on her desk.

* * *

"Oh, come on, already!" Natalie grumbled as she fidgeted with the lock on the locker, "Why won't you open, you stupid piece of shit!"

For five minutes Natalie had been struggling to open her locker. She was about 99.9% positive that she had put in the right combination, but the lock still wouldn't budge. How was this not working? It was able to open just a couple hours ago! Gripping onto the lock tightly, Natalie placed her foot against the locker on the bottom and pulled as hard as she could. Her teeth were grinding as she pulled. This shouldn't be as difficult as it was.

"God, this is freakin' ridiculous!" As Natalie continued to pull, she felt someone tap her shoulder. Red velvet hair flew as Natalie whipped her head to see who was behind her. "What?!" Then her jaw dropped when she saw that the new girl Allison was staring back at her with wide brown eyes. Well, now Natalie felt like a jerk. "Shit! I totally didn't mean to yell at you. I was having a hard time getting this open so I was irritated and I accidentally took it out on you and now I feel like an asshole and… sorry about that."

But instead of being intimidated and weirded out, Allison was actulally laughing. "It's no big deal. That was actually kind of entertaining to watch." She stuck her hand out to Natalie. "Allison Argent."

Natalie shook her hand as she held onto the lock and had her foot still propped up on the locker. "Natalie Henderson."

"So is there any reason why you were trying to open my locker?"

"Huh?" Now Natalie's eyes grew wide. "_Your_ locker?"

"Yeah. Locker 317." Allison pulled out her schedule for Natalie to see.

The redhead looked down at the schedule and then back up at the locker. Sure enough the locker number was 317. Hers was 320. How the hell did she mix _that _up? Red tinted her cheeks as she dialed the combination on locker 320 and it opened up with ease.

"Umm… I was just… testing your locker to see if it was in good condition." Natalie smiled embarrassingly. "It's all good. You're welcome."

Allison laughed again. "You're funny." She opened up her locker and placed her books, binders, and other supplies inside.

"Well, I try," Natalie joked. As she pulled out her chemistry book, someone poked her side, making her yelp and drop everything in her hands. Laughing next to her was Lydia Martin, one of Natalie's good friends. "God, Lydia! You scared the shit outta me!"

"I'm sorry, it was just too easy!" Lydia giggled, "I wanted to tell you about-" She gasped when she looked at Allison's outfit. "That jacket is totally killer. Where did you get it?"

"My mom was a buyer from a boutique in San Francisco," Allison answered.

"And you are my new best friend."

Jackson came over to the girls and stood next to Lydia. He kissed her before she introduced him to Allison. When Jackson saw Natalie, he nodded at her.

"What's up, Lava Girl?"

"Wow, Jackson," Natalie rolled her eyes, "I'm surprised you're not out terrorizing little kids right now."

"What, you don't count?" Jackson teased, jabbing at the redhead's height.

Natalie scoffed and picked up her stuff that she dropped. "I'm not even that freakin' short, asswipe," she said, but not loud enough for him to hear.

Ignoring her boyfriend and friend's argument, she went back to what she was going to say earlier. "So anyway, this Friday there's a party…"

"A party?" Allison asked nervously, not really too fond of parties.

"Yeah," Jackson said, "Friday night. You should come."

Lydia turned to Natalie. "You're going, right?"

Natalie scoffed once again. "Am I going? Please! Have you met me? Hells yeah, I'm going! Who would miss out on a Lydia Martin party?"

Every year, the students of Beacon Hills High always looked forward to Lydia's parties. The strawberry blonde threw the best parties and were claimed to go down in history. Not only that, Natalie was the most fun person to hang out with at a party. Everyone loved to dance, laugh, and talked with her and she was officially known as the 'Party Queen of Beacon Hills'. She was never one to turn down any of Lydia's extravagant events.

"Yes!" Lydia cheered, "It's gonna be great! So what do you say, Allison?"

Said brunette grimaced. Allison liked Natalie, Lydia, and Jackson, but parties just made her feel awkward. So, she made up a lie that would hopefully get her out of it. "Oh, I can't. It's family night on Friday… but thanks for asking."

"You sure?" Jackson asked, "Everyone's going after the scrimmage game."

"You mean like football?"

"Football is a joke at Beacon Hills. The sport here is lacrosse. We won the state championship last year."

Lydia beamed like a proud mother- or in this case, girlfriend. "Because of a certain team captain." She kissed her boyfriend on the lips.

"Ugh, god," Natalie pretended to gag, earning a glare from Jackson but a giggle from Allison. The redhead smiled to herself. At least there was one person that appreciated her wit.

The jock spoke to Allison. "We practice in a few minutes. If you don't have anything else to do…"

"Well, I was going to-"

"Perfect!" Lydia chirped, "You're coming!"

Trying hard not to laugh, Natalie bit her bottom lip. During English, Scott made it pretty obvious that he liked Allison. And judging by his look across the hall, he had it bad. Natalie knew that once he sees Allison watching him at his practice, he will freak. Oh well. His best friend could only hope that he wouldn't do something completely idiotic trying to impress the new girl.

* * *

"Just think about this," Stiles said to Scott as they and Natalie walked on the lacrosse field right before practice, "if you play, I'll have no one to talk to on the bench. You're really gonna do that to your best friend?"

"Hey, you'll have Natalie," Scott nodded to the redhead, "Besides… I can't sit out again. My whole life is sitting on the sidelines. This season, I make first string."

Natalie smiled and patted Scott's arm. "You got this, Scotty. I know you do." Then she turned to Stiles and smacked his chest, making the jittery teen whine. "And you need to stop being so negative. If you had as much dedication as Scott, you wouldn't even have to worry about who to talk to while sitting on the bench."

Stiles rolled his eyes as they continued to the rest of the lacrosse team. He light shoved Natalie.

"Why do you like to pick on me all the time?" he asked her.

"Hey, I wouldn't pick on you if I didn't love you," Natalie defended herself, "And don't act like you don't love it either. That's what makes our friendship special."

From the corner of Stiles's eye, he could see Scott smirking at the bickering pair. He couldn't help but picture Stiles and Natalie as an old married couple. Hell, he wouldn't even be surprised if the two ever went down that road. Natalie didn't notice Scott chuckling, but Stiles did. When Natalie wasn't looking, Stiles punched Scott in the arm, only making him laugh harder. Before Natalie could question her best friends, Coach Finstock called Scott over.

Natalie walked over to the bench by the bleachers with Stiles trailing behind her. The pair sat down and the redhead rested her head on his shoulder. This was a natural position for the two, but that didn't mean it didn't make Stiles's heart skip a beat every time. Her eyes trialed up to the bleachers and she saw Allison and Lydia talking. Actually, Lydia was doing most of the talking while Allison kept looking over at Scott. When Natalie looked over to Scott, he had a look on his face that resembled a lovesick puppy.

"Check that out," Natalie gestured to the two teenagers. Stiles followed her gaze.

He chuckled. "How much you wanna bet that Scott's gonna do something totally stupid out there?"

"A lot," Natalie laughed along. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I actually think it's kinda cute."

One of Stiles's eyebrows rose. "You do?"

"Yeah." She looked off in the distance and sighed. "Young love is a crazy thing, Stiles. It can make you feel completely dumb but also as if you're on top of the world."

"I know what you mean." The whole time, Stiles was gazing down at his best friend. However, she didn't notice. God, he wanted to tell her how he felt so bad!

Before Natalie or Stiles could say anything else, a whistle was blown right in their ears, making them scream and cover their ears. The whistle dropped from Coach Finstock's mouth as he spoke to Natalie.

"What the hell are you doing here, Henderson?"

"Um, I go to school here," Natalie answered sarcastically, "Just like every other one of these students."

Coach Finstock pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, smartass, I meant that I thought I told you that you're not allowed to go to the practices anymore after you let your dog run around the boys locker room and field. I had to get new uniforms because it pissed all over them!"

Natalie flailed her arms. "You scared him, that's why! Jeez, why don't adults ever let things go?"

"Whatever," The coach pointed at her. "You can stay, but one more stupid stunt and you're out of here."

As Coach Finstock walked back to his team, Natalie stuck her tongue out at him and Stiles laughed. They noticed that Scott was playing goalie and they both cringed. Scott had never played that position before so he most likely had no idea what he was doing. And the fact that Allison was watching made the whole situation even worse. The boy was going to embarrass himself out there.

The lacrosse team got into a line with their sticks in their hands, facing Scott and the net. When the first player threw the ball at Scott's direction, it hit his helmet, causing him to fall. Natalie and Stiles winced. That most likely did not feel good. Scott regained his composure and stood back up. The two sitting on the bench noticed his quick change in demeanor. His hands were gripping on the lacrosse stick tightly and the look on his face was filled with determination. The next player threw the ball and Scott caught it with ease. Along with everyone in the bleachers, Natalie and Stiles cheered for their best friend. Who knew that Scott had it in him?

Scott continued to catch every single ball thrown at him. Everyone's cheers grew louder each time. But then Jackson pushed his way past his teammates to the front of the line. He looked like he wanted to murder Scott for stealing all the attention. It looked like this was not going to go well at all. In fear for her best friend, Natalie gripped onto Stiles's hand. On the outside, Stiles remained calm and collected while on the inside he was freaking out at the simple gesture. Trying not to let it show, he just squeezed her hand and they watched the action on the field in anticipation.

Jackson threw the ball at Scott as hard as he could. To everyone's amazement, Scott caught it. He looked down at the stick in bewilderment. A huge grin stretched across his face. He did it! He actually caught it! Everyone around him erupted in cheers. Natalie screamed in excitement and she flung herself at Stiles. He caught her and he spun her around. When he set her down, Natalie looked up at Allison. The girl was up on her feet and applauding along with everyone else. Natalie smirked to herself. Allison definitely looked impressed with Scott's performance. Looks like the boy has earned some brownie points.

* * *

After school, the trio wandered back into the woods. Scott had dropped his inhaler the night before so since he couldn't really afford to replace it, he tried to retrace his steps with his best friends following him.

"I don't know what it was," Scott told Stiles and Natalie, "I mean, I felt like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. And that's not the only weird thing. I mean I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear. And I can smell things."

"Smell things? Like what?" Stiles asked.

"Like the mint mojito gum in your pocket and Natalie's strawberries and cream shampoo."

Stiles reached into the pockets of his jacket. "I don't have any…" He cut his sentence short when he pulled the wrapped gum out. After he put the gum back in his pocket, he looked over at Natalie, whose eyebrows were furrowed as she sniffed the ends of her red velvet hair. Stiles lifted a strand of her hair and sniffed it also. Sure enough, it was strawberries and cream and Stiles found it intoxicating. "Huh. Smells nice."

Natalie smacked his hand away and continued to walk behind Scott. "So this whole thing started with that bite?"

Scott nodded his head. "What if it's an infection? What if my body is flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock?"

"Don't you think that's a little dramatic?"

"It could happen, Nat!" Scott cried out.

A sly smile crept onto Stiles's face. Natalie noticed this and rolled her eyes. What the hell was Stiles up to now?

"I've actually heard of this," he said, "It's a specific kind of infection."

Scott stopped walking as his eyes grew wide. "Are you serious?"

Stiles nodded. "Yeah. I think it's called… lycanthropy."

Natalie snorted and lightly smacked Stiles's chest. "You're such an ass, dude."

But Scott didn't catch on. Instead, he became more nervous. "What is that? Is that bad?"

"Oh yeah," Natalie said, deciding to play along, "it's the worst!"

"But only once a month," Stiles added.

"Once a month?" Scott was panicking at this point.

"On the night of the full moon."

He pointed to Natalie, who tilted her head back and began to howl. Realizing that his friends were just screwing with him, Scott glared at them and punched Stiles's arm. He walked away but Stiles and Natalie caught up to him.

"Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf!" Stiles defended himself.

"It's not funny!" Scott said, "There could be something seriously wrong with me."

"I know! You're a werewolf!" Stiles growled, raising his hands up as if they were claws. He and Natalie started to laugh, but Scott shook his head.

Natalie wrapped her arm around Scott's shoulder. "Okay, obviously, Stiles is kidding, Scotty."

"But if you see me in shop class melting down all the silver I can find, it's because Friiday's a full moon."

Scott stopped walking when he found the spot where he fell down the previous night. He crouched onto the ground and began to look around. Natalie and Stiles followed his actions.

"I swear this was it," Scott told them, "The body was here. The deer came running, I dropped my inhaler…"

"Maybe the killer moved the body," Stiles said.

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler. Those things are like eighty bucks!"

Natalie moved a bunch of leaves around as she continued to look. "You wouldn't be looking around in leaves if you didn't get yourself involved into this mess last night," she grumbled to herself.

Then she felt Stiles pull on her arm and stand her up. She was about to yell at him when she turned to see what he was looking at. Actually, it was more of whom than a what. About ten feet in front of them was a man that looked to be in his very early twenties dressed in dark clothing. He had short black hair and attention-grabbing green eyes. Tall and very built, he was handsome but looked very intimidating. Going into protective mode, Stiles pulled Natalie so he was in front of her. he tapped on Scott's shoulder and he looked at the man and stood up next to his friends.

"What are you doing here?" the man said, "Huh? This is private property!"

"Sorry, man," Stiles said, feeling Natalie grip onto the back of his jacket, "We didn't know."

"Yeah," Scott said, "we were just looking for something. Forget it."

The man then tossed something to Scott and he caught it with one hand. He looked down and lying in his hand was his inhaler. When he looked back up, the man gave the teenagers one last glare and walked away.

Natalie came out from behind Stiles and shivered. "Did anyone else get that creeper vibe from him?"

"I definitely did," Scott agreed, "Come on. I have to get to work."

But Stiles placed his hand on Scott's shoulder before he could walk away. "Dude, that was Derek Hale! You remember, right? He's only a few years older than us."

"_That's_ Derek Hale?" Natalie's eyebrow rose. "Wow. I hardly even recognized him. He definitely looks a lot moodier."

"Wait, remember what?" Scott asked Stiles.

"His family," Stiles answered, "They all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago."

"Wasn't it six years ago?" Natalie asked.

Stiles waved her off. "Details, details." Natalie just rolled her eyes and shoved Stiles.

"I wonder what he's doing back…" Scott said to no one in particular. He looked back down at the inhaler in his hand and curled his fist over it.

"Beats me," Natalie shrugged her shoulders. She pulled onto her best friends' hands and led them down the path they came from. "Now let's go. You don't wanna be late for work, Scotty, and I don't know about you guys, but I don't wanna run into anymore creepy men today."

* * *

**So I hope you guys liked this chapter! It was a lot longer than I expected it to be, but I'm happy with it. PLEASE review and let me know what you think. A few more things before I go:  
**

**1. PLEASE go check out my IsaacxOC story, Scars! It does tie into this story. I really love the idea for Scars but I haven't gotten a lot of feedback on the prologue. I know it was very short, but reviews keep me motivated to move on with the story. I love Isaac and Delilah and I don't wanna give up on it. So please go check it out and I'll be posting the first chapter either tonight or tomorrow!**

**2. I'm still debating if I wanna make Natalie supernatural or not, so leave me your opinion by review or PM!**

**3. How old is Derek in the first season? I need to figure out so it'll be easier to write him in Awake and Alive, Scars, and his own love story that will come out in season two. That would be very helpful if I knew his age.**

**I'll be sure to update soon! xoxo, Maddie :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, what's up? I know it's been a few weeks since I last updated. I have been busy with school and my laptop broke so I'm using my dad's computer, but I'm back! So yeah, here's chapter 3!**

* * *

"92… 93… 94… 95… Natalie, you are so close! Don't you dare give up on me now!"

Panting like a dog, the redhead held herself up with her hands. With narrow brown eyes she glared up at Danny Mahealani, her lovable gay friend who she was now starting to hate passionately.

"Remind me again why I agreed to do this?" Natalie quipped sassily.

"Because you need to strengthen your biceps for baseball this season," Danny answered. He pointed to Natalie's wobbling arms. "You look like you're about to collapse at any second now!"

Instead of coming up with a witty comeback, Natalie groaned through her gritted teeth as she struggled to hold herself up in this grueling position. Danny rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. Then an idea struck his brain.

"Finish up and I'll buy you some Kit-Kats."

The promise of her favorite candy caused the excited gleam in her eyes. Natalie finished her last five push-ups, collapsing when she reached one hundred. Slowly, she got herself off the gym floor, pumped her fists in the air, and let out a victory yell.

"I AM THE MASTER COMMANDER!" Natalie yelled out, earning a few awkward stares from the other people at the gym. Noticing how the gym got quiet all of a sudden, she looked around. "What? Have you not heard of Olan Rogers? The guy on YouTube?" Not even bothering to wait for a response, she shook her head in disappointment. "Uncultured swine…"

Rolling his eyes once again, Danny pulled Natalie into the break room, which was filled with benches and vending machines. Natalie sat down on one of the benches as Danny bought a couple of items from the machine. He then sat down next to the redhead and handed her a Kit-Kat, which she accepted gratefully. Danny shook his head and chuckled as Natalie broke off a bar and chomped on it.

"So," Natalie said as she broke off another Kit-Kat, "you're going to Lydia's party tomorrow night, right?"

"Yeah, are you?"

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "Must I remind you who you're talking to?" She gasped excitedly as she grabbed onto Danny's arm. "Please tell me that you're bringing that guy that you've been talking to all during break! I need to meet him already so I can make sure that he's right for my Danny boy!"

"You're such a weirdo," Danny chuckled, "And yes, I'm bringing him. Although I'm starting to think that's not such a good idea." Than earned him a punch in the arm from Natalie. He continued to chuckle as he rubbed the spot that she punched. "What about you? Who are you bringing to the party?"

"No one," Natalie answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"Really? What about Stiles?"

Breaking off another Kit-Kat bar, Natalie said, "What about him?" the only response she got from Danny was a laugh. It was putting the redhead on edge. "Why are you laughing?"

"Oh come on, Nat!" Danny chuckled, "You can't deny that there's something going on between the two of you." When on of Natalie's eyebrows rose, he let out an exasperated sigh. "Dude, the chemistry between you and Stiles couldn't be any more obvious. You two are totally into each other."

Brown doe eyes grew wide in worry. "Is it really that obvious that I like Stiles?"

"Oh yeah. Big time."

A whine left Natalie's mouth as she rested her head in her hands. Great… If other people can see it, there was a very strong possibility that Stiles could, too. Then again, Stiles had always been clueless when it came to his surrounding, which was most likely for the best. But Natalie still found it mortifying that people could tell that she had a thing for him. That information could easily travel to Stiles, which scared the crap out of her.

"Is it really that bad that people know?" Danny asked her.

"Yes!" Natalie exclaimed, "I'm putting our friendship on the line here! If he finds out that I like him, he will reject me and our friendship will be destroyed! I'll be so humiliated that I'll have to dye my hair blonde, change my name to Sally, move out of the country, and raise llamas!"

Now Danny was looking at Natalie like she was insane. Which she kind of was, if she had to be honest. "Are you sure you never took drama?"

"Pfft!" Natalie shook her head. "Hell no! I couldn't stand to be in the same room with those kids for more than five minutes. There's too much… 'drama' in there, if you know what I mean." She couldn't help but smirk at her own dumb joke.

If the redhead could high-five herself, she would. Even though puns may be extremely corny and ridiculous, Natalie had no shame in using them whenever the opportunity was given. However, Danny wasn't so impressed. Instead he rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"I don't even know why the hell I'm friends with you," he said as he stood up and walked out of the break room.

Natalie gasped like the comment had offended her. "Hey, don't hate me because you can't date me!" When Danny didn't respond, she left the room to go chase him down. "Danny, get back here! It's time for payback for those push-ups!"

* * *

The next morning, Terri let Natalie take her car to school since she had the day off of work. It was time that Natalie got a car since she finally passed her driving test, but her parents told her that a car wasn't in their budget at the moment. Or so they said. For now, Natalie had to either rely on Stiles for a ride or take her mom's car when she didn't have to go to work. It was a bit annoying that she didn't have a car on her own so she could avoid the trouble, but it'll do for now.

Since Natalie took her mom's car to school, she told Stiles that he didn't need to pick her up at her house. After she dropped off Zach at school, Natalie decided to be a good friend and get some Starbucks for Stiles and herself. She balanced the coffee tray with one hand as she opened her locker with no struggle. Praising herself, she pulled out her English book.

"Natalie!"

Said girl cringed at the loud call. She turned around and saw Stiles running down the hall towards his best friend. By the look on his face, Natalie could tell that he was panicking about something, but she still found his facial expressions comical. He obviously didn't see the 'CAUTION: WET FLOOR' sign from where the janitor mopped earlier so Stiles slipped in the puddle and landed on his rear. Natalie rolled her eyes, shut her locker, and jogged over to her fallen friend, trying not to spill the coffee. She took his hand and pulled him up.

"Whoa, dude," Natalie said when she saw Stiles panting hard from running, "You really need to start going to the gym with me more."

"I'll pass," Stiles wheezed, "The gym is for losers." Natalie punched him in the arm. "OW!"

"You still think that the gym is for losers?" Natalie challenged.

Stiles slightly pouted as he rubbed his sore arm. "No… sorry."

"Apology accepted. Now why do you have so much energy when it's almost eight in the morning?"

"I was listening in on my dad's phone call earlier-"

Groaning, Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Dude, when are you ever gonna learn that all that does is get your ass into trouble?"

Stiles glared at her. "Will you just listen to me, woman?" He waited until he was sure that Natalie wasn't going to interrupt him and then he continued. "As I was saying, the fiber analysis came in and they were saying that there was hair on the body that they found the other night."

"Uh huh. And you're telling me this because…"

Stiles leaned in a little closer to Natalie and lowered his voice so no one else could hear him. "Nat, they were wolf hairs."

Good thing that Stiles had cat-like reflexes because when Natalie went into shock, the coffee slipped out of her hand but Stiles caught it before it could hit the ground. It looked like Natalie's eyes were going to pop out of her head because they were so wide.

"You're joking," Natalie hoped. When she realized that he wasn't, she let out a sigh and ran a hand through her red velvet hair. "Did you tell Scott?"

"I haven't seen him yet," Stiles answered, "When I saw you, I knew that I had to tell you right away."

"Well, I'm glad you did. And when we see Scott, we have to tell him right away because this might have to do with that bite he got."

Stiles nodded. "Definitely." Then he eyed the coffee in his hands. "Is one of these mine?" In his right hand was the drink that Natalie bought for him, which had his name written on the cup. He raised it up to his lips and took a sip. Instantly he spit it out and stuck out his tongue. "What the hell is this?!"

"It's coffee," Natalie answered, "What else would it be?"

"It tastes like shit!" Stiles exclaimed, "It's like there's no caffeine in this whatsoever!"

"That's because it's decaf." Her best friend let out a not so manly squeak. "Trust me, Stiles. You out of all people should not have sugar or caffeine at all. You just proved that to me five minutes ago."

After thrusting the horrid drinks back in Natalie's hands, Stiles accusingly pointed a finger at the redhead. "You are an evil human being!"

Rolling her brown eyes, Natalie tossed Stile's rejected coffee in the trash and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, Stilinski. But we should probably go look for Wolf Boy and tell him what's up." She grabbed Stiles's hand and dragged him around the school to search for Scott.

* * *

Oh god. This was bad. This was really bad. If Stiles wasn't panicking earlier, he felt like he could have a heart attack at any minute. He and Natalie didn't get a chance to talk to Scott until the scrimmage game after school, but even then Scott was too focused on making first line to even talk to them. Together Stiles and Natalie watched nervously as Scott made incredibly spectacular shots. He even threw some tricks and flips in the game, not stopping even once for a breather or a puff from his inhaler. And the real kicker: he ended up making first line!

Everyone who watched was amazed and excited for Scott, except for Jackson who just looked downright pissed. Stiles and Natalie would've been proud if they didn't know that something was wrong. A year ago, Scott wouldn't have been able to play throughout half the game without losing his stamina, let alone do a front flip over one of the other players! His best friends knew this better than anyone, so they had every right to be suspicious.

Now Stiles was sitting at his computer after making a couple of trips to the library. Ever since he had been home, he had been going through endless amounts of research of lycanthropy. Some of the information he found was outstanding! It was also a bit scary and he started to worry about Scott even more. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone knock on his door. He fell out of his chair and rushed to the door to find Natalie on her phone on the other side.

"Hey, I got here as soon as I could. Traffic was a bitch so I- whoa!" Stiles pulled Natalie in his room and shut the door behind her. "Dang, Stiles. Forcing me into your room," she joked with a smirk on her face, "At least buy me dinner first."

The boy's jaw went slack. How the hell was he supposed to respond to a suggestive remark by his best friend/the girl of his dreams? Granted she was only kidding, but still!

"What? That's not why I… I just…" He shook all of the dirty thoughts out of his head. "No! Stop throwing me off guard! This is an emergency!"

"I'll say," Natalie said as she looked around at the many books scattered around Stiles's room. "Why does it look like a tornado came through your room? Or like a library threw up in here?"

"Because," Stiles answered as he sat back down in his chair, "I've been doing some research."

One by one, Natalie started reading the titles on the books on Stiles's bed. "Lycanthropy for Dummies… Full Moon Blues… So You Think You're a Wolf… Hmm, I'm sensing a theme here."

"This is not the time to be funny, Nat!" Stiles exclaimed, "People's lives could be in danger!"

"Stiles, what the hell are you talking about? And why are you looking up all of this information about…" Then it dawned on her. "If this is about the wolf hairs and the bite mark I am one phone call away from sending you to the looney bin."

"But Natalie," Stiles said as he grabbed one of the books and walked towards her, "everything adds up. Look at this." He opened the book and flipped through the pages to find something specific. He then handed the book to Natalie and she took a good look at the bloody crescent shaped mark on the page. "Looks familiar, doesn't it?"

"Scott's bite mark…" The redhead looked up at her best friend in bewilderment. She didn't want to believe it. It was all just too surreal to be true. On the other hand, it all made sense. She started to skim through the book and found all sorts of facts that were accurate with this situation. "This is way too crazy. But then again, it does explain a lot."

"Plus, Scott did say that he heard a wolf howling. You remember that, right?"

Slowly, Natalie nodded her head. With a slam, she closed the book and tossed it on Stiles's bed. "Okay, I believe you. But it's not me that you have to convince."

"I know," Stiles agreed, "Which is why you are texting Scott to come over while I do some more research. Now chop chop. We haven't got all day."

With a roll of her eyes, Natalie did as she was told. After she texted Scott, she joined Stiles at the computer to continue their research. It was actually more like Stiles was doing all of the work. All Natalie did was give Stiles Adderall when he asked for them, which was more than he should have.

For what seemed like the hundredth time, Stiles titled his head back and said, "Adderall me," before opening his mouth.

Natalie opened up the pill bottle and took out a capsule. "Uhh, Stiles, I think you should probably cut back on this stuff."

"Life or death, Natalie," the boy sassed, "You decide." He then opened his mouth again, waiting for Natalie to put the pill in his mouth.

Groaning in annoyance, Natalie dropped the Adderall in Stiles's mouth. "I can't believe this is what my life has come to," she grumbled. She then continued to watch Stiles on his computer, hitting her head on his desk a couple of times.

Thirty minutes later the best friends heard a knock on Stiles's door. As Natalie was staring at one of the pages Stiles printed out in horror, the boy got up and opened the door. Standing in the hall was Scott with his phone in his hand.

"Get in," Stiles said as he went back to his desk and gathered up all of the papers lying around. "You have to see this. Natalie and I have been reading. Websites, books, all of this information…"

Scott took off his jacket and tossed it on Stiles's bed. "How much Adderall have you had today?"

"Uhh… maybe two…"

"Eight."

Stiles glared at Natalie and she gave him a knowing look. He rolled his eyes. "A lot. It doesn't matter. Just listen."

"Is this about the body?" Scott asked, "Did they find who did it?"

"Not, they're still questioning people. Even Derek Hale-"

"Seriously, why the hell doesn't my dad tell me anything?" Natalie wondered out loud, almost offensively.

But no one paid attention to her. "They guy from the woods…" Scott trailed off.

"Yeah," Stiles said, "but that's not it, okay?"

"What then?"

"Scott, do you remember the joke that Stiles and I made the other day? You know, about the 'grr'?" Natalie mimicked the claws that Stiles had made that day. "Well, that's not a joke anymore."

Scott clearly didn't understand, so Stiles specified. "The wolf. The bite in the woods. Do you even know why a wolf howls?"

"Should I?" Scott asked.

"It's a signal. When a wolf is alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So if you heard it howling that means there's others. Maybe a whole pack of them."

"A pack of wolves?"

"No." Then Stiles added in a serious tone, "Werewolves."

Now Scott was becoming agitated. He knew that he heard a wolf howling out in the woods. But a _werewolf_? Even he wasn't that dumb enough to believe that nonsense!

"You're seriously wasting my time with this?" he said, "You know I'm picking Allison up in an hour."

"We saw you on the field, Scott," Stiles told him, referring to himself and Natalie, "What you did wasn't just amazing. It was impossible."

"So I made a good shot," Scott snapped. Seriously, what was the big deal?

"No, you made an incredible shot. The way you moved- the speed, your reflexes… People can't do that overnight. And then there's the hearing, the senses, and don't think that I haven't noticed you don't need your inhaler anymore. You haven't used it since that night."

Scott looked down at Natalie, who had been quiet most of the time sitting on Stiles's chair. "Do you actually believe this?"

The redhead pushed her hair out of her face. "Scotty, I know that this is beyond insane, believe me. But you have to admit, all of the signs are there. This is some serious and scary shit you're dealing with here."

That was enough. Scott shook his head in disbelief. "I can't think about this right now. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow?!" Stiles exclaimed, "Don't you get it? The full moon is _tonight_!"

"What are you two trying to do?!" Scott accused, "I just made first line. I have a date with a girl I can't believe actually wants to go out with me. Everything in my life is somehow perfect! Why are you trying to ruin it?!"

"We're just trying to help you, Scott!" Natalie yelled back. Now she was started to get annoyed with her best friend. "You've been cursed! And it's not only the full moon that causes you to change. It's also when your bloodlust will be at its peak."

"Bloodlust?"

"The urge to kill."

"I'm already starting to have an urge to kill, Natalie." The look on Scott's faced expressed those emotions. As he took a step towards Natalie, she slightly cringed, gradually becoming more afraid of her best friend.

Stiles flipped through another book. "You need to hear this. The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse. And I've never seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You have to cancel your date. You have to call her."

When Scott wasn't looking, Natalie grabbed his jacket from Stiles's bed and dug through its pockets. After she finally found what she was looking for, she pulled out Scott's phone and scrolled through his contact list. Scott saw this and his eyes grew wide.

"Natalie, what are you doing!" he exclaimed.

"I'm cancelling the date."

"Give it to me!"

The boy yanked the phone out of Natalie's hand harshly. Fear was evident in her eyes when Scott glared at her and she could've sworn that his eyes flashed yellow. Scott was about to shove her against the wall. Stiles couldn't let his best friend hurt the girl he loved so he pushed Natalie so she fell on the bed. Now Stiles was in her previous spot so Scott shoved and pinned him against the wall. Scott looked like he was about to punch him, but he instead lashed out on Stiles's chair, sending it flying across the room, almost like it was weightless. Breathing heavily, Scott slowly drifted out of his angry state. His eyes grew wide at the mess he made and the terrified look on his best friends' faces. What the hell had he done?

"I didn't mean to do that," he said softly, almost inaudibly. He goes to pull Stiles up from the floor, but he flinches away. "I'm sorry… I gotta get ready for that party." He grabbed his jacket from Stiles's bed, where Natalie was still shaking. Scott had never seen her look so frightened before so knowing that was the cause of that broke his heart. "I'm sorry." Then he ran out of the room as fast as he could.

As soon as Scott was out the door, Stiles immediately got up and ran over to Natalie. He started to check her everywhere, placing his hands on her face and arms. "Are you okay, Nat? Did he hurt you?"

Slowly, Natalie nodded her head. "No, he didn't touch me. I'm okay." Stiles wrapped his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. Her eyelids closed and let Stiles's warmth take over and secure her. After a few moments, Natalie's eyes opened back up and grew wide when she looked at the other side of the room. "But I don't think your chair is."

Huh? Stiles pulled out of Natalie's embrace and walked over to his chair. He stood it up straight and was taken aback by what he saw.

Claw marks. They were gashed through the back of his chair, creating ribbons out of the fabric. Natalie got up from the bed and crouched next to Stiles to get a better look. She tugged on a ribbon and when she let go they both watched as it sprung back into place.

"Party on, Wayne?" Natalie said to Stiles, quoting one of their favorite movies.

With determination, Stiles faced his best friend and nodded his head. "Party on, Garth."

* * *

"Stiles, if you call me one more time I will seriously suffocate you in your sleep."

"Well I wouldn't have to bug you if you would just hurry your ass up!" Stiles argued with Natalie over the phone. He was waiting outside of Natalie's house so he could take her to the party with him. Impatience was taking over the boy since he had been waiting in his jeep for about thirty minutes and he was starting to get snappy. "What the hell is taking you so long?"

Natalie snorted on the other end. "In case you've forgotten, I'm still a girl and I do take pride in how I look. Just hold on a second!"

Groaning, Stiles rested his head on his steering wheel. "I swear to god, Nat, if you're not in my jeep in five minutes or less I will leave and you will have to find another way to- holy shit!"

The phone dropped out of Stiles's hand as he heard a knock on the passenger window, making him jump. Natalie was glaring at him, waiting for him to unlock the door. When he did, the redhead climbed in the jeep and buckled in.

"Man, you have no patience whatsoever," Natalie grumbled as she smoothed out her outfit, "What do you think? Too casual?"

Stiles looked over at the girl sitting next to him. Casual, yes. But damn, did she look hot! Natalie's outfit was nowhere near skimpy, but it did frame her body perfectly. Her dark grey sweater highlighted her curves in the right way and the holes on the sleeves gave Stiles a great glimpse of Natalie's toned arms. Since her light-washed jeans hung low on her waist, a hint of midriff peeked out, but not overly so. Red velvet locks were curled to perfection and Stiles that the light grey beanie on the top of her head was a great touch. The look was completed with grey combat boots, which screamed 'badass'. Was there anything that this girl couldn't pull off?

"No, not at all," Stiles answered, "I think you look great, actually."

God, Natalie hoped that she wasn't blushing because that would be totally embarrassing, especially in front of Stiles. "Thanks. So should we get going? We wouldn't want Wolf Boy to torture everybody at the party."

"Yep. Let's do this."

It didn't take long for them to arrive at Lydia Martin's house. Just by the booming of the bass in the music and happy shouts from the partygoers they could tell that the party was in full swing. Stiles led Natalie to the backyard. Everyone back there was dancing, drinking, or swimming in the pool. Natalie could see from the corner of her eye Lydia with her legs hooked around Jackson's waist as they made out. The redhead gagged at the sight. If she didn't know any better, she could've sworn that he was taking her right there on the wall.

The two best friends headed over to the drinks. Stiles handed Natalie a Mike's Hard Lemonade before grabbing a beer for himself. As Natalie pressed the bottle to her lips and took a swig, she looked around at the scene before her. Once again, Lydia had outdone herself with this shindig. Finally she spotted Scott and Allison on the dance floor. Natalie couldn't have been happier for her best friend. He finally landed himself a girl! Natalie also couldn't deny that she was feeling a little bit jealous since she couldn't be with the one guy that she had feelings for.

Stiles could tell that Natalie was feeling distressed. "Hey." He bumped his hip against Natalie's, making her look up at him. "You okay?"

She nodded her head reluctantly. "Yeah, I'm just… worried about Scott, that's all," she lied, "He could probably maim any one of these people at any minute."

Natalie was about to take another drink until Stiles took the bottle out of her hand and set their drinks on the table next to them. Her eyebrow rose as he looked down at her. "Let me help you take your mind off of that." He held his hand out to Natalie. "Dance with me."

No need to ask her twice. Natalie happily placed her hand in Stiles's and she let him pull her onto the dance floor with techno music blasting from the speakers. Once he found a good spot for them, Stiles began to dance. Actually it looked more like he was having a seizure with the way his arms were flailing and his legs were wobbling. Natalie couldn't contain her laughter at the sight.

"Stiles, what the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" he said, "I'm dancing!"

Natalie shook her head. "It looks like you're being electrocuted," she laughed. She grabbed Stiles's hands to get him to stop moving. "First, put your hands right here." She placed them on her hips. When she wrapped her arms around Stiles's neck, he almost fainted at the physical contact. "Then just move along with the music. It's that easy."

Following Natalie's instructions, Stiles began to dance, well, less spastically. True, he wasn't the best dancer, but Natalie looked satisfied so that worked out well for him. Stiles felt that Natalie was too far from him so he pulled the redhead closer so that their chests were pressed together. Natalie was definitely not expecting that, but she loved it. This wasn't the first time they've danced together, but it was the first time they have so… intimately. You could practically feel the sexual tension radiating from the two best friends, it was almost too much to ignore. It was funny to Natalie in some way because she always made fun of those couples who grind like horn dogs on the dance floor. But who would ever have guessed that she would've enjoyed this so much?

From Stiles's perspective, he was in heaven. Here he was at one of the biggest parties in Beacon Hills's history, dancing with the love of his life so dangerously close. It was almost too good to be true. Stiles lowered his head so he and Natalie were just inches from each other. Their foreheads were now touching and the tips of their noses rubbed against each other. They didn't dare to look anywhere else from each other's brown eyes. As ridiculous as it may sound, they felt like they were the only people at this party. Just like they wished they were.

Neither of the best friends could help but glance down at each other's full lips. This was the perfect chance. Something had to be done. One of Stiles's hands slid up Natalie's torso and tangled it in her red velvet hair. As he was about to lower his lips onto hers, from the corner of his eye he saw Scott clutching onto his head and run out of the crowd.

"Shit…"

Natalie furrowed her eyebrows and pulled away from Stiles. "What's wrong?"

"It's Scott," Stiles answered, "Something's wrong." They both turned their heads to see Scott disappear through Lydia's house. Stiles looked back down at the girl in his arms. "I gotta go check to see if he's okay. I'll be right back to come get you." With that, he ran off.

Well, Natalie couldn't just stand there, so she chased after her best friends. "Stiles, wait!" But he didn't hear her. He just continued to look for Scott.

Natalie soon ended up on Lydia's front lawn. Scott had just whizzed by in his mom's car while Stiles climbed into his own. Tires screeched as the blue beat up jeep followed Scott at lightning speed even as Natalie called for Stiles to wait for her. The redhead watched the whole thing happen.

Needless to say, she was pissed.

"God damn it!" Natalie growled, "That little shit was my ride home!" But she wasn't really sure if she was really upset about that or the fact that the most amazing and exhilarating dance of her life with her crush was completely ruined. Damn Scott and his wolf-ness!

"Natalie!" Allison called out to the redhead, walking up to her, "Do you know what happened with Scott? We were dancing but then all of a sudden he just took off and left. Was it me?"

Natalie sighed in sadness when she noticed the gleam of insecurity in Allison's eyes. "No, it wasn't you, Allison. Scott hasn't really been feeling well these past couple of days so I think his nerves just made it worse." She placed her hand on Allison's shoulder. "Hey. Scott really likes you. He was completely freaking out when he was telling me that you were coming here with him. So don't stress out about it. And if he does something stupid, count on me to give him a piece of my mind."

Allison giggled and smiled at her new friend. "Thanks, Natalie."

"Anytime."

"Natalie! Allison!"

Both girls turned around and Natalie's eyes grew wide when she saw Derek Hale walk up to them. Why out of all people was he at a high school party?

"I'm a friend of Scott's," he told the girls, "My name is Derek. Do you girls need a ride home?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Allison smiled gratefully. She turned to Natalie. "Is that okay?"

Natalie stammered a bit, looking back and forth from Allison to Derek. The look on Derek's face told the redhead to just go with it. And who was she to piss off a man that could most likely rip her head off?

"Yeah… sure," Natalie said through her teeth, glaring at Derek, "That'd be super."

Derek nodded and led the girls to his black Camaro, which gained Natalie's respect. Hey, she had a thing for cars. Who could blame her? She got into the passenger seat as Allison sat in the back. Since Allison's house was closer, Derek dropped her off first. After she thanked Derek and hugged Natalie goodbye, the brooding man drove off to the redhead's house.

Now, Natalie has had her fair share of awkward car rides, but this one topped the list. It was silent throughout most of the time and it was getting on her nerves. So she decided to turn on the radio but Derek smacked her hand away before she could touch it.

"Hey!"

"Hands off the radio," Derek ordered, keeping his eyes on the road. Natalie rolled her eyes and placed her feet on the dashboard, which Derek immediately pushed off too. "And no feet on my car either. Actually, just don't touch anything."

Natalie let out a huff of air. "God, I can't do anything in this car…" Then it grew silent again. This time it only lasted a few moments. "So… Scott's a werewolf, isn't he?" Derek let out a grunt, which Natalie took as a yes. "Are you a werewolf, too?" Another grunt. "Are you always this unresponsive?"

"Are you always this annoying?" Derek shot back.

"Fair enough," Natalie said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat.

"You should steer clear from Scott," Derek told her, "He's very dangerous as a newborn. You don't know what he's capable of."

"Who are you, my dad?" Natalie sassed, "Scotty's my best friend. And the supernatural doesn't scare me." Derek raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well maybe you scare me a little bit, but I'm a big girl. And Stiles and I will get him through this."

"Stiles? Oh yeah, your twitchy boyfriend."

Way to tug on Natalie's heartstrings. "He's actually not my boyfriend. We're just really good friends… I think… yeah, we're best friends."

Derek let out a snort. "Sure doesn't look like it."

"Hey, let's not focus on my love life here. Or therefore, lack of…" Then Natalie's doe eyes focused on a picture attached to Derek's dashboard. She plucked it off and looked at it real close. "Let's actually talk about _your_ love life." In the picture was a beautiful girl who looked like she was about Natalie's age. The girl's hair was very long and dark, which contrasted nicely against her pale skin. Blue eyes sparkled as she smiled in the photo, almost looking like she was laughing.

The man's eyes widened when he saw the picture in Natalie's hand. "What are you doing? Put that picture back _now_!"

"Who is this?" Natalie asked, "Is this your girlfriend?"

"It's none of your business. Now put it back."

"Wow, she's really pretty," the redhead continued, "You dog. Kudos to you-"

"_I told you not to touch anything_!" Derek yelled, snatching the photo out of Natalie's hands.

Whoa. Blowing up like that was not what Natalie was expecting out of the wolf at all, even though he didn't appear so friendly in the first place. Her eyes were wide as she watched Derek take deep breaths and hold the picture tightly to his chest. Natalie didn't realize that the picture would have a huge impact on him. It made her feel bad and also curious.

"Sorry," Natalie said softy, "I didn't think it would make you upset."

He didn't respond. He just continued to drive with one hand on the wheel and the other holding the photo to his heart. Back to that awkward silence. Thank god that Natalie's house was just around the corner. When Derek parked his car in front of her house- she didn't even bother to ask how he knew where she lived- she got out of the car right away.

"Thanks for the ride," Natalie said in one breath while shutting the car door. Derek just kept holding onto the photo as Natalie ran inside her house.

The first thing that Natalie was going to do when she see Stiles again is kill him for making her go through that hell of a car ride.

* * *

Scott was having the worst night _ever_. First, he had discovered that he was a freakin' werewolf. Second, he had to leave in the middle of what was turning out to be a successful date because of the effects of the full moon. And last but definitely not least, he was shot in the arm with a crossbow by none other than werewolf hunters. This was _not_ his ideal Friday night. It officially sucked.

As Scott was walking down the road with his shirt off, he heard the sound of a car pulling up next to him. He turned around and saw Stiles's jeep. Sighing in relief, he climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door.

"You know what actually worries me the most?" Scott asked as he settled in his seat.

"If you say Allison, I'm gonna punch you in the head," Stiles responded, still bitter from ending his dance with Natalie and going back to Lydia's house to find out that Derek freakin' Hale had given his girl a ride home.

"She probably hates me now."

"I doubt that," Stiles assured his best friend, "But you might wanna come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or you could, you know, just tell her the truth that you're a freakin' werewolf!" Scott gave him a disapproving glare. "Okay, bad idea… but hey, we'll get through this. If I have to I'll chain you up myself on full moon nights and feed you live mice. I had a boa once, I can do it. And if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one with a girl pissed off at you."

"Really? What happened?"

Stiles's cheeks began to heat up as his mind went back to the erotic-like dance he had with his favorite redhead. But he decided to spare the hot details and just give Scott the PG version.

"I almost kissed Natalie."

All thoughts and worries of Allison and the werewolf hunters vanished from Scott's mind. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. I was dancing with her at the party and we were so into it that I almost kissed her. But then, someone had to go wolfy on me so I had to leave Natalie at Lydia's to go find you. And now I'm never gonna have that opportunity again!" Stiles leaned his head against his seat. "God, this blows!"

Trying to comfort his friend as much as he could, Scott patted Stiles's shoulder. "Dude, it's Natalie. She can't stay mad at you for long. Just give her the weekend to cool off and on Monday when you see her at school you can talk to her and patch things up. She'll forgive you."

Stiles snorted. "Yeah, if she doesn't castrate me first." He then put the car in gear and drove off.

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoyed it! PLEASE review and let me know what you think! I only got 3 reviews on the last chapter and that was kind of discouraging since I got 9 on the first one. Let me know what you think of this so I can continue to write this because I really like where this is headed! Also the quicker I write this and Isaac's story, the sooner I can start posting Derek's story. Hopefully I get 5 or more reviews. Also if you haven't, check out my IsaacxOC story, 'Scars' and let me know what you think. I plan on updating that one sometime this weekend. I'll be sure to update soon! xoxo, Maddie :)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I had a very busy month! Also don't mind any spelling or grammar mistakes I made. I just got my nails done for prom tonight so my hands are very derpy right now :P But other than that, enjoy chapter 4!**

* * *

Stiles was beyond nervous. He decided to take Scott's advice and gave Natalie the weekend to settle down so she won't want to actually murder him when they came back to school. He had it all planned out. As soon as he saw her, he was going to run up to her and give her the most sincere apology he could muster up.

However, Stiles was still debating on whether he should bring up their almost-kiss from the party or not. He didn't want to hear that Natalie was just tipsy and didn't know what she was doing so she didn't really want to kiss him. He wasn't ready to be rejected by his best friend. It was probably best to just let Natalie take the wheel on that ordeal.

The first person Stiles saw as soon as he got out of his car was Natalie. She was locking up her mom's car. When she was sticking the keys in her pocket, she locked eyes with Stiles. Her own brown eyes grew wide for a moment before they turned into a glare and walking away.

"Wait, Natalie!" Stiles called as he chased after her.

Natalie looked behind her and saw that Stiles was running towards her, so her first instinct was to run also. Stiles chased her from the front of the school to the inside. That caused quite a scene.

"Natalie Angelina Henderson, get back here!" Stiles yelled at his best friend.

"No, fuck you!" Natalie snapped over her shoulder.

They ignored their peers' stares as they continued to sprint down the hall. Now Stiles was more determined than ever to catch up to Natalie so he put more momentum in his legs. When he finally caught up to the redhead, he pounced on her and sent them both tumbling on the floor.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Natalie exclaimed from underneath Stiles, "Did you really just tackle me?"

"Well, it got your attention, didn't it?" he said to her.

"Okay, I'll give you that," Natalie grumbled, "Now can you get off of me? People are staring!"

"I don't care. If you're not gonna talk to me, at least let me talk to you. If I don't, it's gonna bug me all day. Just let me explain myself."

After a small stare-down with Stiles, Natalie groaned in defeat. Once again, she caved in. Damn his begging chocolate brown eyes! "Ugh, fine! I'll talk to you. Now get off of me!" She didn't bother to wait for him and she pushed Stiles off of her, making him flop onto the floor beside her. After standing up and brushing herself off, Natalie pulled him up so he was standing in front of her. Stiles gazed down at her for a bit until she raised an eyebrow. "Well, talk!"

"Okay, okay!" Stiles said, holding his hands up in defense, "Let me start off by saying that I'm very very very very very _deeply_ sorry about leaving you at the party on Friday. I just had to make sure that Scott was alright and didn't do anything stupid. I swear that I was going to come right back and get you."

Natalie flailed her arms around. "And you didn't think to take me with you?! Because of you, I was stuck in a car for what seemed to be the longest twenty freakin' minutes of my life with creepy-ass Hale! Which by the way, you so owe me for that!"

"Well, sorry that I didn't want Scott to attack you during the full moon!"

"Oh, and you thought that leaving me with the big bad wolf would be any better?!"

Stiles pointed at her. "In my defense, I didn't know that he was going to be there! But that's not the point!" He paused to take a deep breath before looking back at his best friend. "I just didn't want you to get hurt if Scott was going crazy. I would never forgive myself if I let anything bad happen to you."

Now Natalie wasn't a typical girly-girl. She never liked going shopping because it made her bored when she stayed at the mall for too long. She never played with dolls because their plastic faces crept her out. And she never liked chick flicks because they were just way too predictable. But even though she would never say it out loud, she was a huge romantic. So when Stiles said that he was worried about her safety, it made her swoon a bit. Mentally, of course.

"Look, Stiles," she said softly, "I really do appreciate you wanting to look out for me. But Scott's my best friend too. And I want to be there for him through this… wolf puberty thing. We're like the three musketeers. We gotta stick together. Which means keeping me in the loop. Best friends till the end, right?"

Stiles engulfed Natalie in a big hug. He let out a sigh as he rested his chin on the top of her head. "Yeah. Best friends till the end."

'_But I wish to be more so badly,' _they both thought to themselves.

* * *

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" Scott chanted over and over again.

His head was covered with his glove clad hands and his elbows rested on his knees as he sat on the bench by the lacrosse field. He was rocking back and forth in nervousness. What he had found out that morning about Allison's family was still taking over his mind. Man, was he screwed.

Scott was so deep in thought that when Natalie walked up to him, he didn't even notice her. Then she dropped her backpack on the bench, making a loud banging noise. Her best friend jumped up in his seat.

"Holy crap!" Scott yelped and placed his hand over his erratically beating heart.

"What's up, wolf boy?" Natalie said nonchalantly.

With wide eyes, Scott pressed his finger to his lips and shushed her. "Nat, not so loud! Someone could've heard you!"

"Are you okay, Scotty?" Natalie asked him, "Stiles told me that you were feeling upset about leaving Allison at the party. Did you talk to her?"

"Her dad," Scott said shakily, "He's a hunter. A w-werewolf hunter. He shot me the other night with a freakin' crossbow."

Natalie's jaw went slack as she took in the new information. "Intentionally?"

Whoa. Talk about a plot twist on events. As if Scott wasn't in deep shit before, he was definitely in for it now. But a laugh all of a sudden bubbled out of Natalie.

"Wow, this is like a real life Romeo and Juliet scenario, isn't it? Let's just hope it doesn't end in either one of you killing yourselves!" She stopped laughing when she saw Scott glaring at her. "Too insensitive?"

"Just a little."

"Sorry."

The coach blew his whistle and hustled his players to the field. "McCall, get your ass on the field! And Henderson, stop distracting my players! I can kick you off my field if I have to!"

"I'm not even doing anything!" Natalie flailed her arms. "What about you? Aren't you supposed to be focusing on your team?"

Coach Finstock glared at the redhead and pointed to his eyes with two fingers then back to her. "I'll be watching you!"

"Was that a 'Meet the Parents' reference, Coach?" Natalie gave him a thumbs up. "Classic move!" Of course, she was being sarcastic. Coach Finstock just ignored her and started practice.

Natalie watched as the coach talked to his team for a bit before the huddle broke off and the players went into position on the field. Some players went to sit down on the bench, one of them being Stiles. He sat down in his usual spot next to Natalie and together they watched the practice go down. So far, it was not looking so good. It was easy to tell that Jackson had enough of Scott gaining the popularity so he was trying to take the new werewolf down. He seemed to be succeeding. Both of the best friends cringed as they saw Jackson hit Scott hard and he fell. Coach Finstock bent down to Scott's level and talk to him- more like antagonizing him. Scott's eyes were turning yellow and Natalie worried that someone was going to notice. Luckily no one did. When the coach finished talking, Scott stood up and ran back to his starting position.

"McCall's gonna do it again!" Coach Finstock called out, "McCall's gonna do it again!"

This play was much worse than the first one. Because Scott was starting to shift, he was now taking his anger out on Jackson. They charged at each other and collided harshly. When they both fell, Jackson cried out and latched onto his now injured shoulder while Scott was freaking out. Stiles and Natalie jumped out of their seats and rushed over to their friend.

"Scott?" Natalie said, "What's going on?"

"I can't control it!" Scott panted, "It's happening!"

Stiles's eyes grew wide. "What? Right here? Now? Come on, get up!"

Together, Stiles and Natalie pulled Scott up and they ushered him to the boys' locker room. The redhead tried not to breathe with her nose since the room stunk from sweat and Axe body spray. Clothes and practice gear were everywhere! Boys were truly disgusting.

Scott hunched over in the corner of the locker room and breathed heavily. His best friends immediately hovered over him. Natalie then bent down and began rubbing Scott's back soothingly in comfort.

"Scotty, take deep breaths, okay?" she instructed. Although she was trying to be strong at the moment, she was panicking intensely on the inside. "Just relax."

"Scott, are you okay?" Stiles asked when he bent down next to Natalie.

But when Scott turned towards his best friends, it wasn't really Scott they were seeing. No, this boy's face was sharper, hair had grown on both sides of his face, and his teeth had turn into fangs. Those yellow eyes were still there, and they were searching for something to kill.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Scott roared.

Stiles and Natalie fell backwards in fright. They got up as fast as they could and Stiles grabbed Natalie's hand. Scott began to chase the two around the locker room, jumping on and denting lockers in the process. The teens ran to a corner of the room. Natalie buried her head into Stiles's chest and fisted his shirt as he wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from the attacks of their friend. The redhead was starting to have a panic attack. Her best friend could kill her or her crush at any second and it was way too terrifying to wrap her head around that.

She wasn't the only one who was scared. Stiles would never have thought that he would fear for his life because of Scott out of all people. He could feel Natalie shaking in his arms and he just held her tighter as he tried to come up with a way to keep them safe. Then he saw the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. He quickly grabbed it and sprayed Scott. The wolf panted heavily as he calmed down. When he looked up at Stiles and Natalie, he had shifted back to his human form.

"Stiles? Natalie? What happened?"

"You tried to kill us," Stiles told him.

Scott's eyes grew wide, scaring himself. "Did I hurt you?"

Natalie shook her head. "No, we're okay. You didn't touch us."

"It's like we told you before," Stiles said, "It's the anger. It's your pulse rising."

"But that's lacrosse!" Scott exclaimed, "It's a pretty violent game, if you haven't noticed."

Stiles sighed. "Well it's gonna be much more violent if you kill someone on the field. You can't play on Saturday. You're gonna have to get out of that game."

Scott looked defeated. "But I'm first line."

"Not anymore," Natalie told him sadly, "I'm sorry, Scotty. You can't risk it."

The wolf squeezed his eyes shut and whined as he leaned his head against the wall. Derek told him that the bite was a gift when all it did was make Scott's life worse than before. All the hard work to make first line to only have it taken away after a week. And now Allison will realize what a loser he really is and move on to someone better. Being a werewolf bites.

* * *

The Henderson children struggled to eat their last bite of dinner. Terri made her famous homemade chicken pot pie so both Natalie and Zach were doomed from the start. But they couldn't contain themselves. It was just too good! Finally they finished their dinner and dropped down their forks with a clank. Natalie and Zach slumped in their chairs and rubbed their full stomachs.

"Ugh!" Zach groaned, "I feel like a fat kid! I should go hibernate in my room for the next few days."

"Man, I think I need to hit the gym for an extra two hours!" Natalie quipped, "I probably just gained ten pounds!"

Terri rolled her eyes as she chuckled. "You two are so overdramatic." She picked up her children's plates and placed them in the sink. Then she reached in the freezer and pulled out some ice cream. "Anyone up for dessert?"

Both Natalie and Zach groaned.

"Oh god, I can't even think about taking another bite of anything ever again!" Natalie whined.

"It's homemade cookies and crème."

Natalie glared at Terri. All her mother did was smirk at the redhead. "Why must you torture me like this?"

"It's my Jo." Terri placed a scoop of ice cream into a bowl and set it down in front of her daughter. She then kissed Natalie's head before getting ice cream for Zach.

"Ugh, Danny's gonna kill me for this," Natalie grumbled. She picked up her spoon and took a bite of her cookies and crème. As the flavor hit her taste buds, she moaned in delight. "But at least I can die happily."

Her phone vibrated in her pocket as she took another bite. When Natalie looked on the screen she saw that she had received a text from Scott.

_**Stiles has some update on Jackson. Log onto Skype ASAP!**_

"Well, I'm gonna take this to my room," Natalie announced as she picked up her bowl and stood up. "Apparently I'm needed by Scott and Stiles."

"You mean your twitchy boyfriend?" Zach teased.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Natalie defended herself, "And he's not twitchy! He's just… socially awkward."

The thirteen year old snorted. "Yeah, because that makes it any better."

"Demon child…" the redhead mumbled as she retired to her room.

When Natalie walked into her bedroom, she set down her ice cream on her desk before grabbing a white Pierce the Veil t-shirt and black shorts. She quickly pulled off the clothes she wore for the day and put on her pajamas. After that she sat on her desk chair. She opened up her laptop and she saw Scott's screen name requesting to chat with her so she accepted it. The boy was sitting in his room.

"What up?" Natalie said, "Where's Thing Two at?"

"I'm pulling him up right now," Scott said as he typed up something. "And… here."

One click later and Stiles's box appeared at the top right corner of Natalie's laptop screen. In Stiles's hand was a toy gun and he was making shooting noises with his mouth. Both Scott and Natalie rolled their eyes at their best friend's childish behavior.

"What are you, freakin' five years old?" the redhead sassed. She then squinted her brown eyes as she looked more closely. "Is that _my_ toy gun?"

Stiles's eyes looked back at the toy and embarrassingly lowered his hand. "Maybe…"

Natalie flailed her arms at the screen. "Dude, when did you take that? _Why_ do you even have that?"

"I needed a new one to add to my collection," Stiles answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"So you steal mine?!"

"It's not like you were-"

Loud clapping halted the two friends' bickering. They both looked to Scott's box and saw him glaring at them.

"When you children finally stop arguing with each other," Scott started, "we need to focus on the real issue here. Thank you. So what did you find out?"

"Oh, it's bad," Stiles said, "Jackson has a separated shoulder." All of a sudden Natalie snorted, causing both boys to turn to her. They gave her a look that said, "Really?" and she cleared her throat. She looked away as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Because of me?" Scott wondered out loud.

"Because he's an asshole!" Natalie piped in.

Stiles snapped his fingers and pointed to the redhead's side of the screen. "Accurate."

"Is he gonna play?" Scott asked.

"They don't know yet," Stiles answered, "Now they're just counting on you for Saturday."

Right as Stiles was about to say something else, he squinted his eyes and leaned in closer to his computer screen. Confusion swept across both Scott and Natalie's faces as Stiles began to frantically type something.

_**It looks like-**_

Then his computer froze.

"It looks like what?" Scott asked Stiles. He looked up at Natalie. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" the redhead shrieked, "I'm just as confused as you are!"

Finally the rest of Stiles's message came through.

_**-someone's behind you.**_

Natalie looked up and her brown eyes widened in fear when she looked at Scott's box. "Uh, Scotty?" Shakily, she pointed to the figure standing behind her best friend.

Scott turned around and then all of a sudden, he was pinned to the wall by Derek. Just as Natalie was about to yell at Derek through her webcam, the battery on her laptop died.

"What the…" Natalie stuttered. She smacked her laptop a couple of times in hopes that it would turn back on. It didn't. This just made Natalie groan and pound her fist down on her desk. "Son of a bitch! This is why I fucking hate Mac!"

* * *

At school a couple of days later, Stiles and Natalie were out at the baseball field during their free period. Baseball tryouts were after school and Natalie would be lying if she said that she wasn't nervous. So she decided to take it upon herself and drag Stiles out to the field and practice a bit. And how could he say no to her? Especially when the redhead used her puppy dog eyes to lure him in. They were tossing each other the baseball Natalie had in her backpack.

"So quick question," Stiles said as he caught the baseball in his glove. He then threw it back to Natalie. "Who do you think would die first in a zombie apocalypse? Me or Jackson?"

"Oh, that's easy," Natalie said, "You for sure."

Stiles's jaw dropped and let out a feminine squeak. He was so taken aback by this statement that when Natalie threw the ball back at him, it almost hit him in the face. "Me? Seriously? Why?"

"Well first of all," the redhead started, "You get distracted easily, as you've just shown me. Also Jackson's faster, both by running and reflexes. He may be a prick but he's quick on his feet. So unless you have some kind of weapon to defend yourself with, you're basically screwed."

Thinking it over, Stiles shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, that may be true, but Jackson has more body mass than I do. Zombies would probably rather eat him than me since I'm skinny."

"They eat brains, stupid! They won't care that he has more meat on his bones than you! You should grateful because that means you're smarter than him. Plus, you're not skinny. You're lean, which is a lot better than being skinny."

A sly grin stretched across Stiles's face. "Did you just compliment me? Well that's a first." He pointed to his ear. "Come on. Say it one more time. I wanna savor this moment."

Natalie rolled her eyes and tossed the baseball in her backpack as the bell rang, signaling the end of the period. "Shut up and let's go."

After she zipped up her backpack and slung it over her shoulders, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her up in the air. Natalie squealed as Stiles draped her body over his shoulder, giving her a nice view of her friend's jean clad rear. She gave it a little smack only for Stiles to smack her own rear back.

"Ow!" the redhead yelped, "Can you put me down now?"

"Nope," Stiles said, popping the 'p', "But I can do this."

Without any warning, he flipped Natalie over so he was now carrying her bridal style. Red hair covered her face as she laughed. Stiles couldn't help but laugh along with her. Naturally- and as carefully as he could without dropping her- he pushed her hair out of Natalie's face.

"Say this," Stiles smirked, "Stiles Stilinski is the most awesome person and biggest badass in the world."

Once again Natalie rolled her eyes at her best friend's request. "Someone's getting a little cocky here, isn't he?" Instead of answering her, Stiles pretended that he was going to drop her, making her wrap her arms around his neck and yelp. "Okay, okay!" She let out an annoyed sigh before repeating, "Stiles Stilinski is the most awesome person and the biggest badass in the world. Now will you please put me down?"

Stiles thought about it then shook his head. "Nah. I think I'm gonna keep holding you. It makes me feel more masculine." There was also the fact that he just wanted to get closer to his favorite girl. But he wasn't going to mention that.

And it's not like Natalie was complaining. She just accepted the gesture with small red hues on her face and let Stiles carry her back into the school. Natalie hopped out of Stiles's arms when she saw that her dad and Sheriff Stilinski talking to the principal. The best friends gave each other a worried look.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Stiles asked the redhead.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know." Then she saw Scott standing in front of his locker. "But there's only one way to find out." Natalie jogged over to Scott, grabbed him by his backpack, and dragged him to where Stiles was standing while ignoring his protests.

"Hey, what are you-"

Stiles pointed to the police officers and the principal. "Tell us what they're saying. Can you hear them?"

Scott shushed them before using his werewolf senses to listen in on the conversation. After a minute, Scott said, "Curfew because of the body."

"Damn it!" Natalie groaned as she stomped her foot. Pouting, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Thanks a lot, Hale!"

"Unbelievable!" Stiles scoffed, "Our dads are out looking for a rabid animal while the jerk-off who actually killed the girl is just hanging out, doing what he wants!"

"Well you can't exactly tell your dads the truth about Derek," Scott pointed out.

For the second time that day, Stiles let out a sly grin. "We can do something…"

"Like what?"

The redhead crossed her fingers and squeezed her brown eyes shut. "Please don't go there!"

"Find the other half of the body," Stiles answered.

"And he went there."

However Scott wasn't really paying attention. Down the hallway, Lydia was introducing Allison to some of the lacrosse players. Stiles and Natalie turned their heads to see what Scott was looking at and winced. Talk about a low blow. And clearly Scott wasn't so happy with what he was seeing.

Quick to avoid this awkward situation, Stiles grabbed Natalie's hand. "Well we should get going. It looks like you have girl issues you need to take care of and Nat needs to get ready for her baseball tryouts."

Said girl didn't even have a chance to protest before Stiles dragged her down the hallway. "Later, Scotty! Try not to kill anyone!"

* * *

"WHOO!" Stiles hollered with Natalie clinging onto his back, "My best friend is co-captain of Beacon Hills's baseball team!"

"Hells yeah, she is!" Natalie cheered. She pumped her fist up in triumph. "In your face, Stephenson!"

With victorious smiles and lifted spirits, the pair stalked away from the newly excited- and some heartbroken- girls and made their way to Stiles's jeep. Natalie jumped off of Stiles's back before tossing her baseball equipment into the back of the jeep and climbing into the passenger seat. There was a new message on Stiles's phone from Scott but since Stiles had to drive, he tossed the phone to Natalie for her to check what it said.

"God, how freakin' awesome is that?" Stiles beamed as he drove out of the school parking lot, "My best friend Natalie Henderson not only killed it during the tryouts, but was made co-captain of the _varsity _baseball team! That's actually kinda hot." While it was a joking statement, Natalie didn't know that he was being serious. She gave his arm a playful slap but on the inside her heartbeat sped up. "This definitely calls for a celebration."

Wide eyes peered down at the text Scott sent. "Well we can't do it tonight. Scott said that he found something strange at Derek's house and to go over to his place right now."

Stiles's ears perked up and his eyes widened. He was now filled with a brand new excitement. Reaching over Natalie's legs, he opened his glove compartment and pulled out his bottle of Adderall. He took out a few capsules and popped them in his mouth.

"Really, Stiles?" Natalie exclaimed, "You are not intoxicating yourself while operating a vehicle!"

"Hey, my jeep, my rules, woman!" Stiles told the redhead as he continued to drive. Figuring that she wasn't going to get anywhere with this argument, Natalie rolled her eyes and laidback in her seat.

It only took a few more minutes to reach Scott's house. Melissa McCall, Scott's mom, was already on her shift at the hospital so Stiles parked in her spot. The car wasn't even parked all the way when Natalie got out and ran inside Scott's house. Right after Stiles shut off his car he followed after his best friend into Scott's room to find said boy sitting in his desk chair.

Once Stiles reached Scott's room, he began to bombard the wolf with questions. "What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it? And yes, I had a lot of Adderall…"

"Unfortunately…" Natalie grumbled as she rubbed her temples with her fingertips.

Scott rolled his eyes and said, "I found something at Derek's house."

"Well, what was it?" Natalie asked impatiently.

The wolf shrugged. "There was something buried there. I could smell blood."

"That's awesome!" Stiles exclaimed excitedly. Natalie smacked his stomach hard, making him double over in pain. "I mean, that's terrible. Ow…"

"Dumbass," Natalie said to Stiles before turning to Scott, "Whose blood was it?"

Once again Scott shrugged. "I don't know. But when I do find out, your dads will arrest Derek for the murder. And then you will help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing, because there's no way in hell I'm not playing that game."

The trio hopped into Stiles's jeep and drove off to the hospital. Right when they were inside, Scott made sure that his mom wasn't around before heading to the morgue.

"Good luck, I guess," Stiles called after Scott.

Stiles and Natalie went to go sit in the hallway and did their best to not look suspicious. Clearly Natalie was grasping that concept better than Stiles, who picked up a pamphlet about the women menstrual cycle without meaning to. The redhead held back a snort before going over to the vending machine to buy a Kit-Kat. She reached in the pocket of her grey hoodie for her wallet but then remembered that it was in her backpack in Stiles's jeep. A huff of air left her mouth before she turned to Stiles who was still hiding behind the pamphlet.

"Dude," Natalie said, gaining Stiles's attention, "Do you even know what you're reading right now?"

He looked down at the pamphlet and yelped in horror. He quickly tossed it back on the table next to his chair and picked up a much less terrifying magazine.

"Anyway," Natalie chuckled, "I left my wallet in the car. Do you have a dollar on you?"

Nodding his head, Stiles pulled his wallet out of the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a dollar bill. Natalie thanked him when he handed her the money before she turned back to the vending machine. She put the money in the machine and punched in a few numbers. When the Kit-Kat dropped, it got stuck in the bottom. Natalie cursed to herself before bending down to pull it out.

Unintentionally, Stiles glanced up but his gaze stilled when he saw the sight in front of him. Since the two had gone straight to Scott's after Natalie's baseball tryouts, she didn't have a chance to change out of her white Black Veil Brides tank top and black capri leggings. When Stiles saw Natalie, he was glad that she was still wearing those leggings. He couldn't help but gawk at how great those pants made her butt look amazing. Especially when she was bending over. And he wasn't ashamed to be staring. Call him a typical overly hormonal teenage boy, which he was. That wasn't going to stop him from admiring his crush's athletic and beautiful body. Just as long as no one caught him.

Too late. Stiles didn't hear Scott walk up to him so when the wolf ripped the magazine out of his hands, Stiles jumped like two feet in the air. Scott chuckled when he realized that Stiles was checking Natalie out.

"It smelled the same," Scott told them, setting his focus back to the real issue.

"And you're sure about this?" Natalie said as she stood back up, biting into her candy.

"Yes!"

"So he did bury the other half of the body on his property…" Stiles realized.

"Which means we can prove he killed the girl!" Scott concluded.

"I say we use it."

"How?"

Natalie held her hands up in front of her, still holding her Kit-Kat. "Hold on a second there, Scotty. Are you doing this because you want to stop Derek or because you want to play the game and he said you couldn't?"

Scott gave Natalie a serious yet frightened look. "There were bite marks on the legs, Nat. Bite marks!"

"Okay!" Natalie said as she held up her hands in defense.

"Well then," Stiles started with a mischievous grin and gleam in his eye, "we're gonna need a shovel." Shooting a look at Natalie, he added, "Three shovels, to be exact."

Right after the trio left the hospital, Stiles drove them back into the woods to over where the remains of Derek's house lied. They hid behind a tree and waited for the brooding man to leave, which didn't take too long. As soon as Derek skidded away in his sleek black Camaro, Scott, Stiles, and Natalie came out from their hiding spots with their shovels in their hands. Stiles and Natalie were about to start digging until Scott held up his hand to stop them.

"Wait," he said, "Something's different."

"Different how?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know…" Scott trailed off, sensing that something strange was going on. Unsure of himself, he sighed and shook his head. "Let's just get this over with."

Unfortunately, the digging was taking a lot longer than any of them would've liked. They had been in front of Derek's house for at least a couple of hours. And they still haven't found what they were looking for! To make matters worse for the frustrated boys, Natalie had been whistling 'Hi Ho (It's Off to Work We Go' as they were shoveling. Stiles was about ready to rip his ears off.

"Natalie, I love you and everything," he said, "but I'm about ready to bury you alive."

"Hey! Don't give me your attitude," Natalie snapped, "First you drag me out in the middle of the night to look for half of a dead body in the woods and now we're digging around the property of the big bad wolf that could easily kill us if he wanted to. I'm bored, tired, and hungry so this is my only source of entertainment!"

Scott huffed in frustration. "Seriously, Stiles, this is taking way too long!"

"Just keep going," Stiles urged on as he continued to shovel.

"What if he comes back?" Scott worried.

"Then we get the hell out of here."

"What if he catches us?" Natalie added.

"I have a plan for that," the short-haired friend assured them.

"Which is?" Scott wondered.

Stiles answered with, "You run one way, Natalie and I run the other, and whoever he catches first, too bad."

The teen wolf looked at his friend and shook his head. "I hate that plan!"

Natalie scoffed. "Okay, who the hell decided to make him in charge of making all of these rash decisions?"

Scott shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. But either way, it's never happening again."

"Agreed."

"Okay, both of you can stop insulting me like I'm not here!" Stiles exclaimed to his best friends. Grumbling to himself, he continued his digging. Until his shovel hit something. His eyes grew wide and he held Scott and Natalie back with his arms. "Whoa, stop! Stop, stop!"

Stiles started to shovel again until he had cleared the dirt off the object. Now, Scott knew that something felt off here. And Stiles and Natalie also had a bad vibe about this situation. But neither of them expected to find what they did. The three of them screamed and jumped back when they found the upper half of a wolf.

"What the hell is that?!" Stiles exclaimed.

"It's a wolf!" Scott responded.

The redhead clutched onto Stiles's arm. "Yeah, no shit! I thought you said that you smelled blood! An in _human_ blood!"

"I told you something was different!"

"Oh god, that is something I can never not see…" Natalie shuddered, "We've gotta get outta here."

"Yeah," Stiles agreed, "Help me cover it up."

Natalie bent down to pick up the shovel she had dropped but suddenly halted. Planted on the ground in front of her was a purple flower. She tugged on the sleeve on Stiles's jacket and pointed to the mysterious plant. Right away he recognized the flower from movies and websites he had come across before. Scott noticed his best friends tense up.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Stiles pointed to the plant. "Do you see that flower?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"I think it's wolfsbane."

A confused expression swept across Scott's face. "What's that?"

Stiles gaped at him in disbelief. "You've never seen 'The Wolf Man'?"

Scott shook his head. "No."

"Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude Rains?" Natalie tried to help the wolf out, "The original werewolf movie?"

Now Scott was just more in the dark than ever at this point. "What?"

"Dude, you are so unprepared for this," Stiles sighed in disappointment.

"One of these days, Scotty, we are watching all werewolf movies to get you educated," Natalie promised her best friend, clasping a hand on his shoulder.

Stiles walked over to the flower and pulled it off the ground, only to find out that the stem was attached to some rope. Yard by yard, he went around in circles pulling out the rope, which was creating a spiral shape. Finally, Stiles was able to tug all of the rope out. Once again, the three teenagers were taken aback when they looked down at the wolf in the hole.

Only this time, it wasn't a wolf they were seeing. It was the second half of the dead girl's body that they were looking for.

Natalie's jaw went slack in horror. "No fucking way."

* * *

**I hope you guys liked this chapter! PLEASE review and let me know what you think! It gives me motivation to keep going and I love to hear what you guys have to say. Also feel free to leave any questions you have about this story, Scars, and even the DerekxOC that will start hopefully soon!  
**

**I decided that I am going to keep Natalie human because like some of you, I like the idea of Stiles with someone that isn't supernatural. I hope you guys are happy with that because I think it will be a good change.**

**Also if you haven't, PLEASE read and review my IsaacxOC story, Scars. I love the story so far but I don't really have many reviews on it and it makes me sad because I don't want to abort it. And since my 18th birthday is on Thursday (June 5th) it would be a nice present to get a bunch of reviews on both Awake and Alive and Scars!**

**I hope to update soon! xoxo, Maddie :)**


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